


It's a Birth Defect, Honest

by widdlewed



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Anime Logic, Anime science, Blood, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fake Science, Gen, M/M, Multi, Out of Character, Pandora Gem, Pandora!Shinichi, Shinichi is the Pandora Gem, slight AU, tapelum lucidum, tweaks in timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-05 03:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13378716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/widdlewed/pseuds/widdlewed
Summary: A certain thief on a hunt for a certain Gem stumbles across a child whose eyes glow red under the moonlight.Suddenly Kaito is unsure if he's been in search of a jewel at all, and not a large detective who's been shrunk into a tiny one. After all, how can someone claim glowing red eyes is a 'birth defect'and expect everyone to just accept it?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi yes hello and welcome to this terror of a fic. I do not know if I will continue this or anything but I saw some art and fics about the idea of Shinichi being Pandora and thought 'oh yes' 
> 
> so here have this really stupid, terrible thing. Thanks.

_ The Pandora Gem, a jewel hidden inside a larger jewel that will glow red under the moonlight. Encased in myths and pipe-dreams of granting immortality, it is nothing but a fairy tale spun by the mortal man afraid of their inevitable demise. It was theorized that the fabled Philosopher's Stone and the Pandora Gem were one in the same as both are stones that grant the user immortality. In the papers written by Nicolas Flamel, the great alchemist who was said to have discovered and used the Philosopher's Stone to achieve immortality, there are subtle hints to the Pandora Gem, saying that he had found a stone that bled blood like tears from a broken heart.  _

 

_ Along with these uncovered papers, there have been tablets discovered in the ruins of a Ancient Egyptian city that date as far back as 3300 B.C. that transcribe of a stone that leaks red liquid  - _

 

Uhg. Kaito slumped over the books, the black ink blurring together as Kaito’s dry eyes burned. He groaned, rubbing at his blood shot eyes. His gaze slid over to the teetering tower of books stacked on the edge of his desk, mocking him with their useless information. 

 

This was getting him nowhere. It was the same repeated, summarized junk. Nothing recent. Nothing current as to the 20th or 21st century. He didn’t  _ care  _ for things that happened more than 1000 years ago because that’s 1000 years too late to be of any help to his search. 

 

Kaito sighed, pushing away from his desk. He closed the current book, title already forgotten due to the lack of interesting, new information. Kaito stood, shoulders popping as he stretched. His eyes narrowed, taking in the moving shadows from his neighbor’s window. Aoko had guests over at this time? On a  _ school  _ night? How scandalous!

 

_ Then again,  _ Kaito thought as he caught sight of the big red circle on his calendar marked for the next day,  _ I can’t say anything.  _  Kaito peered down at his calendar, a wide smile curling his lips up without his permission as he stared at the bold, scrawled  _ HEIST  _ taking up nearly two blocks of the papers. 

 

Good thing no one ever came into his room, besides Aoko. But her loud entrances gave Kaito plenty of time to hide anything...incriminating. Huffing, the teen plopped down on his floor and dragged out the large duffle back from under his bed.

 

The duffle bag, rigged to where the first thing you saw were a few... _ tasteful  _ choices of magazines, had two layers. The first layer was the magazines, a box of kleenex, and a bottle of hand lotion. Kaito had made sure to make the ‘teenage hormone’ compartment (as he liked to call it) as embarrassingly normal as can be in case anyone broke in and tried to snoop. It had to look natural, had to look “shameful” that he was hiding “dirty” things, so that way they wouldn’t be suspicious of the hidden compartment of the duffle bag. The duffle bag that held his newest trinkets of listening devices, a stun gun, and some easy-to-release handcuffs, along with a few other gadgets that Kaito Kid would absolutely carry. 

 

Kaito took stock, mentally going over his list of what he had, and what Jii-chan had. Smirking deviously to his duffle bag, he picked up a flimsy magazine and nonchalantly flipped the opening cover, eyes sparkling at the sharpie-scribbles that he’d doodled over the models during a afternoon of boredom. 

 

Whoops. He was gonna have to throw this one out. Groping blindly on his floor as he flipped through the ruined magazine, he found a abandoned marker and uncapped it, drawing fireworks over a model’s nude breasts or a dragon coiling from their spread legs. 

 

Yeah, totally gonna have to pitch this. 

 

Kaito snickered to himself, his stomach twisting in excitement as he thought of how awesome his heist tomorrow was going to be. It would be his official debut as Kaito 1412 in Beika City. 

 

This was going to fucking rock. 

 

* * *

 

 

Kaito was awoken to Aoko busting her way into his house. Forgoing the  _ normal _ approach of ringing a doorbell or, say, knocking, the girl had instead just nearly taken the door down like she owned the place. Kaito, already a light sleeper, had shot up and scrambled to make sure nothing was left out that’d ruin his life and had been able to throw his uniform on before Aoko had even had the chance to twist his bedroom doorknob. 

 

“AHOKO!” Kaito screeched, pretending to cover his clothed chest with his hands. “How indecent! I’ll never be able to marry again!” Aoko stood in the doorway, cheeks heating as she glared at Kaito. 

 

“Bakaito! You weren’t responding to Aoko’s texts so Aoko decided to make sure you were properly awake!” Aoko complained in a whiney tone, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff. Kaito’s mouth opened to snap something equally whiney, only for his face to fall into a scowl. 

 

“What is  _ he  _ doing in my house?” Kaito snapped, any traces of teasing gone as Aoko blinked and turned to the new intruder. 

 

“Who? Hakuba-kun?” 

 

“Good morning to you too. And to think that Kuroba-kun would live in such...disarray,” the brown-blond haired teen commented from behind Aoko, eyebrow raised in bemused judgement. Brown eyes glistened as they bounced along the mess that was Kaito’s floor, taking in the toppled books cluttered together until no title was recognizable, the strewn papers and markers, stilling on the porn magazine laying innocently out in the middle. “Oh.”

 

“KAITO!” Aoko’s voice cracked as her pitch when to a almost soundless shriek, her eyes catching sight of the magazine as well. “You-YOU PERVERT!” Kaito’s glare at Hakuba faltered into a look of confusion. 

 

“Huh?” Kaito asked, following the pointed finger Aoko was trying to use to burn the magazine right then and there. Oh. Oh shit. “It’s not what it looks like!”

 

“I can’t believe I was worried about you being late!” Aoko shrieked, hands twitching for her trusty mop. “I-I’M WAITING OUTSIDE!” She shoved past her friend and her stomping feet could be heard going down the stairs. 

 

“I’m honestly surprised. Who’d have thought that the Phantom Thief was...interested in such things,” Hakuba commented. Kaito swooped down, snatched up the magazine, and chunked it at the detective. 

 

“I’m not Kid! Out!” Kaito snapped. “Out, out, out!” His eyes narrowed at the final once-over Hakuba gave his room and the thief shoved the detective out. 

 

Kaito marched Hakuba out of the house, locking the door behind him. Aoko was waiting by the fence across from the entrance gate, her cheeks red and her lips pulled into a pout. 

 

The three started walking, Aoko in the middle of the two teens as she swung her school bag in wide arches. 

 

“Dad’s gonna be out tonight,” Aoko started sulkily. “Gonna be off in Beika for that stupid Heist.” 

 

“Oh yeah, Kid’s finally making an appearance in Beika, right? Sounds so much fun! I wish I could go,” Kaito whined, keeping an eye on Hakuba, who snorted. 

 

“I find it curious how Kid is only  _ now  _ reaching out to Beika. It’s been several months since he’s begun his activities, correct? So why now?” Hakuba mused loudly, gaze boring into Kaito. 

 

“Dunno,” Kaito shrugged his shoulders. “Why don’t you ask him the next time you see him?” Kaito’s lips twitched upwards into a sharp, teeth-baring smile and Hakuba’s expression hardened. 

 

“Kaito, let Aoko hang with you tonight,” Aoko spoke, smacking Kaito on the arm. 

 

“No can do, Aoko,” Kaito spoke and, seeing the curious expressions on the two’s faces, smirked. “I got a date with the lovely lady you saw-”

 

“BAKAITO!” Aoko screamed and threw a punch. Hakuba sighed as the two rushed off, Kaito laughing while Aoko chased after him.

 

* * *

 

 

This was turning out to be...not what Kaito was expecting. 

 

First of all, who was this tiny little...gremlin?...And where were his parents? Seriously, did they just let him wander around at night up onto dangerous rooftops? 

 

Second off all, why was this tiny child’s voice so rough and deep and uncomfort for Kaito? He didn’t  _ sound  _ like a child, not with how he was annunciating his words, or how the child’s expressions were carefully flat. 

 

Third of all, the child’s eyes glowed. They  _ glowed _ . When Kaito said they glowed, he meant that the moment the clouds parted and gave the teen a clear view of the child, the moonlight had decided to create a goddamn spotlight on the child and his  _ glowing red eyes _ . 

 

What even. 


	2. Instant Regret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Instant regret. That is all Kaito felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes hello hi. Welcome to my fic and thanks for reading. This is short but now that I have their initial introduction out of the way, it'll be smoother from here on out. Hopefully. IDK. 
> 
> Also concerning where in the timeline this take place - I've tweaked the timeline to where Kaito had already been Kid for a few months but has kept to Ekoda. This will be his first time pulling a heist in Beika - in a different city. So Hakuba is aready here, and Kaito had already stole a few gems. Yeah. Hope that helps?

Kaito didn’t pay attention to the child as the boy explained how he’d deciphered the heist notice. No, Kaito couldn’t care less as he took in the child’s glowing red eyes. 

 

In his ear, he could hear Nakamori-keibu screeching for any trace of Kid. It was white noise to his roaring thoughts.

 

Colored contacts? At his age? First off, what kind of parent, nevermind letting their child roam around at this hour alone, let their kid wear colored contacts? Seriously, where were his parents? Did he have any? Was he a runaway or did his parents just neglect to keep his whereabouts in mind? 

 

Maybe a trick of the lighting from his glasses? No, no, not a trick, Kaito mused as he watched as the child shifted backwards into the shadows, back pressing against the rooftop door as if he could block Kaito from escaping down the stairs. The moment the child’s face had been obscured from the moon’s gaze, his eyes had settled into a dark blue, glinting with amusement at the seemingly speechless thief. Not a trick of lighting then. 

 

Maybe...the kid had fake eyeballs? Kaito mentally tugged on his hair and shrugged. Okay, yeah, that was a ‘out-there’ guess but with what he’d experienced since being introduced to the KID legacy...yeah, he couldn’t rule out anything that sounded ‘crazy’. 

 

Almost intrusively, as if his mind had sensed his train of thought and had decided to roll with it straight to  _ abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous,  _ Kaito remembered the readings from last night.   
  


_ The Pandora Gem, a jewel hidden inside a larger jewel that will glow red under the moonlight.  _

 

A involuntary shiver cut through Kaito’s body at the sudden intrusive thought. Why had he suddenly thought of Pandora? What the hell? What the hell, brain? 

 

“...and that’s how I - um, excuse me... are you okay?” The child seemed to have realized that the silence wasn’t from awe but something else. Oh shoot, he’d been silent for too long, just creepily staring at the child the entire time. The kid’s eyes slipped over to his abandoned soda can, where a firework was innocently waiting to be lit. Had this child tried to draw attention? No, that seemed to perfect. 

 

Again, where was this child’s parents and who in their right mind would let a  _ kid  _ set  _ fireworks  _ off on a roof, unsupervised? 

 

Kaito felt that if this had been any other situation, he’d have  _ words  _ with this kid’s guardians. 

 

Nakamori-keibu was barking orders now to search surrounding rooftops. He had to hurry. He couldn’t ruin this. 

 

The child took another step out into the moonlight and - yep, his eyes were glowing. What the hell. Kaito could barely control his poker face as he stalked forward. His mind was on autopilot. He was backing the child back up against the door but it barely registered as he reached a hand out.

 

Kaito snagged the black rimmed glasses, pitching them over his shoulder as he all but dragged the boy back into the moonlight. He ignored the child’s weak stutters and squawks as he titled his chin back, gloved fingers prying open the child’s eyelids. 

 

Red, like fresh blood glistening against the pale moonlight. Red like roses bloomed under the summer sun, soaking in the warmth and life of the surrounding area. Red with tiny specks of a weird fuchsia shade that circled around his black, almost thin pupils. The child’s eyes seemed to shutter, vibrating in their sockets as tears gathered at the intense tugging to his skin and the increase of a breeze. 

 

“Doesn’t look artificial,” Kaito murmured to himself, pulling taunter on the child’s eyelids, trying to get a clearer look of those red eyes,  _ needing _ to - wow, Kaito suddenly realized this seemed very, very wrong on so many levels. Kaito mentally reeled as his body froze. What was he doing? What was he actually doing right now? Had he honestly just gone up to some stranger, a child no less, and had proceeded to touch his face and almost poke his eyeballs? Kaito's hands were still on the child's face, ears deaf to the hissing profanities coming from the child's mouth and - 

 

Pain. Unexplainable, weeping pain. Kaito was able to release a tiny squeak of  exhale before he dropped his hands to his testicles, rolling away from the gremlin. 

 

Did he just-?!  Kaito’s ability to think clearly diminished as his nerves caught fire and surged to a single point. 

 

He kicked him! That little gremlin kicked him right in the-!

 

“ _ You kicked me in the balls! _ ” Okay, so, maybe not the smartest thing to begin with but -  _ ow _ . Was he bleeding? He felt like he was bleeding. Between the waves of pain and tears, Kaito caught the boy backing up, a hand firmly on his...was that a watch? Why did it have a trigger-hair popup screen? 

 

“You,” the child looked like he couldn’t grasp the right words. “You-you- _ sicko! _ Who the hell do you think you are, touching me like that?!” Wow, that sounded so bad Kaito wanted to die right then and there. He should go turn himself in, let himself get beat up in prison.

 

“Wait,” Kaito wheezed, struggling onto his knees. He slowly let go of himself and stood on shaky legs, exhaling, “no. No, it’s not what you think. You-your eyes-”

 

“What about my eyes, huh?” The kid’s eyes - _ glowing glowing red RED eyes -  _ darted over to his fireworks and Kaito shifted his footing, blocking the child’s path. “Doesn’t give you the right to  _ molest  _ me! Sick freak!”

 

“ _ Molest- _ ?! No! They were  _ glowing _ ! What kind of eyes glow?!” The child seemed to stiffen, casting a glance to the moon, before he hastily retreated back into the shadows and bristled up like a wet cat. 

 

“So? I have a birth defect! You wanna make fun of that, while your at it?”  _ At it?  _ Kaito wanted to ask but didn’t because he just wanted this night to stop. He just wanted to go home and sleep. Forever and then some. 

 

“I wasn’t trying - I like  _ people my own age!  _ I like them old, like, super old! Like, a billion years older than you and - stop looking at me like that!” Poker face? What was a poker face? Kaito was closed to tears.  He really was. This. This was a horrible first impression to Beika. God, he wanted it to stop. “Just - your eyes!”

 

“It’s a birth defect,” the child spat venom, hand still trained on his weird watch contraption. “What, never seen someone with glowing eyes?” 

 

“No!” Kid stuttered out. “Have  _ you _ ?” The child gave a pause, eyeing the thief warily as his gaze again shot to the fireworks. Kaito moved swiftly, his long legs getting him to the can before the child could even think of taking a step forward. 

 

Being petty as can be, Kaito punt kicked the can off the rooftop, watching it soar in the air. 

 

“My fireworks…” The boy behind him let out, seeming at a loss. 

 

“I’ll-” Kaito cleared his throat, shoulders suddenly slumping from exhaustion. Poker face be damned, he was tired. “I’m just. Gonna go. I’m going to go. Home. And die. Or something.” An encounter with Akako would have better than this, at this point.

 

The child was eyeing him with a weird expression, as if he couldn’t understand what he was trying to pull. It almost made Kaito laugh, the impression that he was trying to trick the child. Not now. Not - not now. 

 

_ The Pandora Gem, a jewel hidden inside a larger jewel that will glow red under the moonlight.  _

 

“Hey boy,” Kaito spoke as he snapped his hand glider out, the wind picking up around the two as if on cue. “What’s your name?” 

 

“Why would I-”

 

“Humor me,” Kaito cut off, giving a shark like smirk as the child glared knives at the teen. The flashlights of the helicopters was approaching fast. Looked like his time was up. 

 

“Edogawa Conan,” the child relented as Kaito placed a hand on the railing outlining the roof. “Detective.” 

 

“Kaitou Kid,” Kaito gave a little nod of his head. “Thief.” 

 

“Creep, more like it,” the tiny detective shot back and Kaito gave a choke as he tipped backwards, over the railing. 

 

Kaito was able to catch sight of the child rushing to the railing, looking for him. 

 

Yep, time to go home and cry. 

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning had Kaito in a bad mood. 

 

“Why,” Kaito ground out between gritted teeth, “is he walking to school with us? Again?” 

 

“Always such a treat in the mornings,” Hakuba shot back, closing the newspaper he had been reading. He passed it to Aoko and smirked at Kaito. “What, in a sour mood because you missed your own heist last night?” 

 

“I’m not Kaitou Kid!” Kaito snapped, looking ready to bring out the claws and use Hakuba as his scratching post. “I didn’t sleep well last night, is all.” 

 

“What, spent too much energy with your hand-” Hakuba was smacked in the face with his newspaper, Aoko’s cheeks a rosy red. 

 

Not the same red as Edogawa Conan’s eyes, but the reminder had Kaito transfixed on his friend’s colored face.

 

What kind of birth defect was that, to where you had glowing red eyes? 

 

“Is there any known birth defects that cause people to have glowing red eyes?” Kaito blurted before he could stop himself. Aoko and Hakuba blinked at him. Hakuba raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side for a moment in thought. 

 

“Are you perhaps referring to Albinism or the are eye effect usually found in photos? You see Kuroba-kun, when a camera’s flashing light hits the retina-”

 

“I know about that, stupid! And not Albinism, either. I mean, like, red eyes.” Kaito made a weird hand gesture as if that’d explain it. 

 

“Tapetum lucidum is when you see a animal’s eyes glowing brightly in the dark at the smallest of lighting. Is that what you were asking about?” Hakuba, bless his Sherlock Holmes obsessed heart, actually seemed to be trying. 

 

“You thinking of cosplaying?” Aoko asked before her lips tugged into a playful smile. “Or are you a late bloomer with that Chunibyo thing?” Kaito gave her a flat look, visibly offended. 

 

“Aoko, I’m insulted. As my best friend, you should know if I was going to cosplay or delve into the Chunibyo culture, I’d have pink eyes to match my flawless cheekbones! Also, I’d probably be a secret magical girl princess who-”

 

“Why were you asking, then?” Hakuba interrupted, Aoko’s giggles making Kaito smile. Kaito’s lips pressed into a thin light as he eyed Hakuba. 

 

“Saw a article online about it. Forgot the name of it,” Kaito explained. “That tapetum lucidum thing sounds close though.” Kaito mentally made a note to research into it. “Thanks, I guess.” 

 

“Of course. Now, about the English quiz today,” Hakuba began, Aoko gasping loudly. 

 

“There was a quiz?” 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaito came off as being creepy. Since I've had this fic idea in my head, this was the only way I have wanted their meeting to go. There is NO KIDCON at all in this fic. None what so ever. I ship KaiShin. I ship consenting adults of age, nothing else. Do not mistake their interactions as KidCon please. It's not. 
> 
> For why I chose to have their meeting go like that - I strongly believe with all my heart that Kaito knows something is off - something is nagging him in the back of his mind about Conan's eyes and he knows, he feels it in his bones, that it isn't normal. He's caught off guard at the sight of a child with glowing red eyes that seem to activate by the moonlight. It's creepy. It's weird. It's unknown and Kaito wasn't to understand what it is. 
> 
> Kaito is going to be out of character in this fic, if you haven't already guessed. Everyone will be, honestly. I like to have my teenage characters act like teenagers every once in a while so don't be surprised if they do. 
> 
> Anyways, yeah, thanks for reading my shitty fic?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito knew he had made many mistakes leading up to this moment. His biggest one? Meeting the tiny detective in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to another short chapter of this fic! Thanks for being interested enough to read up to three chapters. LOL 
> 
> I'm sorry about Akako. I don't know how to write her character. But enjoy!

Yeah, okay, instant regret. So much regret. As Kaito stared down at the child bouncing his soccer ball innocently, Kaito knew he had made many mistakes leading up to this moment. His biggest one? Meeting the tiny detective in the first place. 

 

So, he had tried to reinforce his poker face. He really had. But the moment he was alone with the child, he had immediately felt the need to throw up because, god, this kid had accused him of molesting him and Kaito felt so  _ dirty _ . It had all been a misunderstanding, of course, but that didn’t excuse the fact he  _ had  _ gotten in the child’s personal space and he  _ had  _ touched him, inappropriately or not. 

 

Thank god the room was dark or else the child would have easily seen how green Kaito was, but because it was so dark, the thief got an idea. 

 

Wait, had the kid been talking the entire time?

 

“I know it’s you, Kaito- hey, what are you doing?” 

 

Kaito, dressed as Mouri Ran, pointed a flashlight directly at the child. Two watering blue eyes stared back. Huh, okay, that didn’t work. Thinking fast, Kaito pulled out his camera phone and snapped a photo, making sure the flash was on. 

 

“Seriously, what are you doing?! Touching my face wasn’t enough?” Conan hissed out as he covered his eyes, rubbing at them to get rid of the black spots he no doubt now had drifting across his vision. 

 

“ _ I did not molest-! _ ” Kaito coughed, trying to calm himself down. “Listen, you said you had a birth defect, yeah? I’m curious about it. I, uh, wanna be a doctor when I’m not, y’know, being a internationally wanted thief, so I wanted to know about this thing you have.” 

 

“...Do you think I’m stupid?” The child’s face was scrunched up as if he saw Kaito as nothing more than a bug and Kaito mentally clenched at his wounded pride. “That’s the worst bullshit story I’ve ever heard someone tell me.” 

 

“Excuse you, young man!” Kaito gasped, slipping out of Ran’s voice. “Language! Do your parents let you go around talking like that?” 

 

“...what?” Conan had stopped messing with his soccer ball, openly staring at the thief. “...did you...did you just ask my about my upbringing?” 

 

“I have some serious concerns to share with your parents,” Kaito spoke, completely seriously. “But while this has been fun for you and a completely traumatic nightmare for me, I really got to be going.” Kaito turned to leave, only to let out a high-pitched squeak as a soccer ball dented the metal of the wall by his nose. 

 

What the actual fuck. 

 

“First you molest me,” Conan dryly spoke, “and then you take pictures of me? Kaito Kid, are you a thief or someone who needs to be listed on the sex offender registry?” 

 

“I’m mildly impressed and alarmed you know such a thing exists,” Kaito shot back. “First of all, rude. Second of all, this is for scientific purposes only. I’m interested in your glowing eyes.” 

 

“Are you still on my eyes?” The child looked wary, defensive almost, as he scrunched up his nose at the thief. “Why? What’s the deal?” 

 

“I’m curious, like I said. I’m in med school and-”

 

“Stop with the lying. It’s - it’s just. It’s a birth defect. A mutated genetic birth defect that’s kinda similar to tapetum lucidum. Due to complications at birth,” Conan gritted out, rubbing at his arm as he looked at the spot above Kid’s shoulder. “Why do I have to explain myself to you, anyways?”

 

As one to study body language, Kaito instantly knew the child was lying. The way he wasn’t maintaining eye contact, the way he moved his hands in a distracted way, even his slightly wavering tone. He was defensive, reluctant to share the information with Kaito. Kaito knew that it was in human’s behavior that the moment they have the chance, they’d share anything with you. Children especially. Children loved to overshare, even more so when it was something  _ cool  _ or  _ weird.  _ And boy, were glowing red eyes weird. So Conan’s wariness and caution, though within good reason considering the less than favorable meeting between the two, was...different. 

 

Kaito didn’t like when people didn’t cooperate the way he wanted them to. He didn’t like it one bit and even more so that it was this child. 

 

Wow, he was really never going to climb out of this hole if he kept digging it deeper. 

 

“You know,” Kaito licked his lips, changing the subject as his thoughts began to grow loud, “you shouldn’t be worrying about me and should be worrying about your pretty older sister. I mean, I’m a huge perfectionist when it comes to these disguises. You wouldn’t want her to catch a cold.” 

 

The kid stared blankly at him, not connecting the dots. Kaito skillfully unlatched the bra he’d bought and worn, pulling it out and  tossing it in the air for effect. Conan’s eyes followed in and his face flushed red. 

 

Kaito was taken back by how the child’s face turned as red as his eye and he looked like a humanoid jewel. 

 

“You-you-you-you  _ sick pervert! _ ” Conan screeched and that was Kaito’s cue to leave. He threw down a smoke bomb, dodging a stray soccer ball as he ducked out and escaped. 

 

Kaito didn’t remember how he got off the boat or how he ended up back to shore, or even how he got into Jii’s waiting car. 

 

It was a black, empty space that he knew was caused by dead, beady eyes staring at him from under the water’s reflection. 

 

But when Kaito did come too, he fished out his camera from the folds of his black jacket and stared down at the photo he’d snapped. 

 

Two wide, glowing red eyes stared back at him. 

 

Kaito’s lips pressed into a thin line as his mind drowned in multiple screaming thoughts.

 

* * *

 

_ tapetum lucidum (plural tapeta lucida) _

 

_ -A layer of tissue in the eye of many vertebrate animals, immediately behind or sometimes within the retina, that reflects visible light so as to increase the light available to the photoreceptors. _

  
  


Kaito leaned back, finger tapping against his chin in thought. The kid had said it was a birth defect, right? Were there any cases of humans with tapetum lucidum? 

 

Kaito went to the search engine, typing in  _ birth defects that cause red eyes.  _ Kaito clicked onto one of the articles, recoiling at the first image that popped up. 

 

_ Harlequin-Type Ichthyosis _ . What the fuck. Kaito winced and looked at what it was, exactly. A rare skin disease that can cause red eyes when first born. But, looking at the images of older children, teens, and adults who survived the disease, Edogawa Conan didn’t look like he suffered from it. 

 

Kaito quickly scrolled through the article, paling as he looked at all the birth defects that infants were born with. Nope, nope, nope. 

 

The next article talked about the red-eye effect that was common in photos, talking about how the red-eye effect showed healthy, properly working eyeballs or something of that nature. Of course, the only useful information Kaito picked out was that it was usually only the pupils, not the entire eye.

 

Kaito quickly edited his search, punching in  _ humans with tapetum lucidum _ . 

 

_ ‘Humans don’t have the tapetum lucidum layer in their retinas. If you shine a flashlight in a person’s eyes at night, you don’t see any sort of reflection.’ _

 

Well, there went Kaito’s guess of Edogawa Conan suffering from some mutation of tapetum lucidum. Kaito groaned and leaned back in his hair, ruffling through his hair. Why was this bothering him, anyways?

 

So what if the kid had glowing red eyes? Maybe it was just some undocumented birth defect that never made media coverage and no one took the time to study after seeing it? 

 

But Kaito’s mind kept going back to how the kid’s eyes seemed almost otherworldly in the moonlight, sparkling like a diamond glistening under light. 

 

Kaito searched again, this time  _ eyes that glow in the moonlight.  _ Instant regret filled him as fanfiction and fictional romance novels popped up. Oh, wait, that title looked interesting-

 

NO! Kaito slammed his laptop closed, shaking his head. No being side tracked! Okay, so, obviously this was going to bug Kaito until he got his answers about why this child’s eyes glowed red. But...how could he get any answers when their last encounter was….horrible. Just horrible. 

 

A flash of magenta in his mind made Kaito nearly bash his head against his desk.

 

“....I don’t wanna do it,” Kaito whined petulantly. He would have stomped his feet like a toddler if he didn’t have any dignity. Instead, Kaito spun in his chair, watching the room blur together as he did a few 360s. He stopped on the poster of his father smiling at him. His eyes seemed judgemental, pressuring, and Kaito threw his hands up. “Fine! Uhg! I’ll do it!” 

 

Kaito glanced at his digital clock and stomped out of his room, mouth set as a grimace as his stomach churned. He plopped down at the entrance of his house, slipping his shoes on. Letting himself breathe in once to calm his nerves, Kaito grabbed his keys, turned off his lights, and left the house. 

 

* * *

 

 

“I’ve been expecting you,” Koizumi Akako greeted, draped over her throne like she was some sort of Goddess. 

 

“Uh-huh,” Kaito spoke, trying to look disinterested as he stared around at her inner chamber. Wow, he’d never be able to get over how much of a edgelord Akako liked to pretend she was. 

 

“To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing the great Kuroba Kaito-kun so late at night?” Akako drawled out as she pushed one of her long robe sleeves up to reveal her slender, pale wrist. 

 

“It’s seven,” Kaito corrected, “and I have a...question, that I was wondering if you...knew the answer to?” God, he hated having to ask her, but if anyone could give him an answer, it was the resident witch of Ekoda. 

 

“Oh? You are asking me for a favor?” Akako looked overly pleased to hear the admission. “Well, what do you want to know?” 

 

“God,” Kaito grumbled under his breath before clearing his throat. “I...is there any way someone can have glowing red eyes?” 

 

Akako, who had began to merrily twirl her long strands of hair as she basked in Kaito’s reluctance for help, froze. Her pleased smirk faltered, her eyes narrowing. 

 

“Explain,” Akako spoke, her mirror shimmering. “In detail.”

 

Well, that couldn’t be a good sign. Kaito shifted his footing, internally screaming at himself. 

 

“I met someone whose eyes glowed in the moonlight. And, uh, the internet hasn’t been any help to me so, y’know.” Kaito gestured to all of Akako’s artifacts and her person. “Thought you’d know something.” 

 

“Show me the photo you took of the child,” Akako demanded and Kaito really didn’t have the strength to question how the hell she knew about the photo, instead handing his phone to the butler he was  _ sure  _ was a demon, and watched as she studied the image. 

 

“You do not want to involve yourself with this... _ child _ , Kuroba-kun. The spirits weep when they see his eyes. Death follows him like a lapdog, eager for its treat but never satisfied with the table scraps its given.” 

 

Totally not vague. But her words sent shivers down Kaito’s spine nonetheless as she continued. 

 

“My Dear Friend Lucifer-” Kaito forgot Akako talked about a demon named  _ Lucifer  _ like they were a childhood buddy- “has warned me of this child, Kuroba-kun. Many months ago, when Death mourned it’s rightful loss, the spirits began screaming. You must do well to leave this boy alone, Kuroba-kun. If you don’t, pain and death will be all you will know.” 

 

Kaito scratched at his head, blinking at the flooring. 

 

“Thanks, Akako,” Kaito spoke at last. “I’ll...heed your warning.” Whatever that warning had been, exactly. 

 

Akako had walked him to the door, looking like she wanted to say something. 

 

“Bye,” Kaito forced out, barely hearing himself over the deafening shrieking of his mind as his thoughts tried to overlap and form something coherent. “See you tomorrow. You did that essay on the novella we had to read over the weekend, right?”

 

Because of course he’d remind her of homework. 

 

Akako stilled for a moment before nodding. 

 

“Of course,” Akako spoke and made a vague hand gesture to her butler. “Who do you think I am?” 

 

“Uh-huh. There’s a symbolic meaning of eternal love in the way the woman eat her pie, apparently. Good luck,” Kaito bidded and as the door closed, he heard the witch shrieking for her notebook and a pen. 

 

Well, Kaito thought as he stuffed his hands into his pocket and made his way home, looked like he had more questions than answers now. 

 

And Kaito hated not having answers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so. Yeah. LOL I'm so sorry. I'm personally more invested in writing the fic after Kaito finds out Conan is Pandora because that's when everything will be, y'know, explained. Everything until that point is kinda....just crack. I have no patience to write out the entire ordeal, hence this fast paced thing. I admit, I could do better, but writing is all about growth, or in my case, not being lazy and inpatient. 
> 
> I mean, Kaito is smart, so it shouldn't take that long for him to figure out something isn't right. 
> 
> But thanks for reading! I'm trying my best :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ekoda quartet discuss homework like normal teenagers (for once) and we are introduced to a new character's perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy. Another chapter. Yay. I probably won't be posting anything more for this story for at least a week. Maybe. I've just been writing as the inspiration hit me, so -weak jazz hands- yeah. 
> 
> Please let Hakuba, Akako, Aoko, and Kaito just be normal teens for once. Please.

“Morning,” Kaito yawned as he plopped down into his seat. Around the classroom, his peers warily checked their desks and under their chairs for any pranks. When they found none they all slowly sunk into their wooden seats, tense as they eyed each other in anticipation. There was always a calm before the storm, so to speak, when it came Kuroba Kaito. 

 

Kaito, hiding his smile behind his palm, looked around the room as Aoko settled into her own seat, looking worse for wear. 

 

“What, didn’t sleep?” Kaito teased and Aoko whipped around with a glare, dark circles under her eyes. 

 

“No! Dad was up all night ranting and raving about that new heist notice Kid sent in. Aoko barely got an hour of sleep!” Aoko whined, rubbing her cheeks viciously as she fought back a yawn. 

 

“I have some herbal tea that gives you energy,” Akako spoke up as she seemed to materialize in front of the other girl’s desk. “Would you like me to brew you up some?” 

 

“You just carry tea with you?” Hakuba asked as he took his own seat, looking both intrigued and amused with the information. “That’s...interesting.” 

 

“You mean weird,” Kaito commented. Aoko scooted her chair back, hard, jerking Kaito’s desk into his ribcage. Kaito hunched over, giving a weird ‘hur-uch’ noise. 

 

“Hakuba-kun,” Akako turned to Hakuba, pressing a hand on Aoko’s desk as she leaned on the surface. “I was wondering if I may inquire about your...bird.” 

 

“Watson?” Hakuba raised an eyebrow. “What about him?” 

 

“Your...friend...is a hawk, correct?” Akako questioned. “A bird of prey?” 

 

“Yes,” Hakuba nodded. Kaito snorted and rolled his eyes. Aoko jerked his desk back again. “Why?”

 

“I’ve been studying some intricate passages that date back a few generations that deal with birds of prey,” Akako surmised, pausing. “I was wondering how you care for your hawk.” 

 

“Well,” Hakuba began and Kaito quickly drowned the two out as his thoughts drifted towards the current focus of his attention. 

 

Edogawa Conan. 

 

Seriously, what was it about that child that drove Kaito to figure him out? Was it because he seemed like a walking puzzle? There was just something off about him. And Akako’s warning the night before was still fresh in his mind. What had she meant, exactly? Death had mourned it’s rightful loss? Death was like a dog? 

 

What? 

 

Kaito snapped out of his thoughts at Akako’s startled squeak of, “Live mice?” Kaito turned back to the three.

 

“Why yes,” Hakuba blinked and even Aoko looked green. “It gives Watson the sense of hunt, so he stays active and sharp on his hunting instincts.” 

 

“I-I see,” Akako coughed out. 

 

“Did you finish your essay, Nakamori-san?” Akako asked, changing the subject as she tossed her hair over her shoulder, smirking as many eyes watched the movement in either awe or envy. “I found that the pie scene was very...enlightening to the character’s overall personality.” 

 

“What?” Aoko looked up, sudden wide awake and not nearly as green as a moment ago. Her eyes were wide, mouth opening and closing. “What-what do you mean?” 

 

“Oh yes, I found the allegory for immortality in the way the author described the protagonist eating her pie to be quite fascinating,” Hakuba spoke as he leaned over, gesturing for Akako to steal the empty chair to complete their square. 

 

“What?” Aoko squeaked out as Kaito and Akako blinked at the high school detective, both looking confused. 

 

“No,” Akako spoke slowly. “I was under the impression that the pie represented eternal love the protagonist felt for their deceased wife. Where is this immortality thing coming from?” 

 

“Aoko thought she just liked pie,” Aoko whispered, pale as she scrambled for her essay in her notebook. 

 

“Well-” Hakuba dropped the book in question down on his desk with a loud thump- “if you look at the sentence when the author says, ‘ _ Komiko bit into the second spoonful of pie, wishing that her pleasure would never end _ ’, you can immediately pick up that the pie represents time, and that her wish for her pleasure to never end is actually referring to her life.”

 

“That makes no sense,” Kaito hissed, ripping the book out of Hakuba’s hands and pointing to another passage. “See, look. ‘ _ Her life was empty without her late wife. Komiko wished desperately to share her joy of the apple pie with her. Instead, she was forced to...savor it by herself. _ ’” Kaito stared at the passage. “See, eternal love!” Now he was doubting himself. Stupid Hakuba.

 

“But isn’t eternal love also in a way immortality?” Akako mused aloud. “Both last forever. Loving someone for eternity is the same as being immortal to carry on that love. In a way, maybe we both subconsciously considered the text to be about immortality.”

 

“I literally told you what the passage was about,” Kaito gritted out. 

 

“Well, either way,” Hakuba coughed. “Akako-san is right in the sense that the idea of eternal love and immortality coincide. The very concept of loving someone even past death is akin to being immortal and loving someone after they’d long since left you.” 

 

“Now I think you’re fishing to deep,” Kaito dryly sneered. “You’re grasping for empty straws.”

 

“What about her shoes?” Aoko blurted as she scribbled furiously on notebook paper. “Does that long two-page section dealing with her pair of high heels mean anything?” 

 

“How amusing,” Akako laughed quietly as she crossed one leg over another, her skirt slipping up to reveal a tease of smooth thigh. “That the author uses something as enjoyable as eating pie to represent a nightmarish concept of never dying.”

 

“It’s a child’s dream,” Hakuba snorted. “Immortality. There are two constants in life: Life and Death. The idea of living forever is stupid.” 

 

“You’d be surprised in what people would do to escape the hungry jaws of Death,” Akako smirked, standing up. “Humans are scared creatures.”

 

“Tell me about it,” Kaito grumbled under his breath. Loudly, “You tell ‘em, Sherlock Jones.” 

 

“You like to think you are insulting me,” Hakuba shot back instantly, “but any reference to me being like Sherlock Holmes is a high compliment, thief.” 

 

“Not Kaitou Kid,” Kaito nonchalantly spoke, pulling out his cellphone. He blinked at the newest news article, showing that Mouri detective. 

 

That stupid child was in the photo, being picked up by Ran. A man was being carted away by the police in the background. The headline showed that another murderer was caught by Mouri Kogoro. 

 

“They’re whining,” Akako spoke in Kaito’s ear, suddenly behind him. Kaito jerked and gripped his phone tighter as Hakuba helped Aoko with her essay, the four splitting into two different conversations. “Begging. They’re starving, desperate for it’s awaited meal.” 

 

“That’s totally not creepy or vague,” Kaito forced out. Akako gave a tiny ‘hmph’ and frowned at him.

 

“I’m trying to warn you. If you don’t heed it-”

 

“I know, I know, death and pain. When don’t vague warnings lead to death and or pain?” Kaito questioned with a raised eyebrow, his lips tugged into a sharp smile. Akako opened her mouth to say something when the teacher walked in. The teacher seemed apprehensive, looking around the podium before glancing nervously at the students. 

 

The four got to their rightful seats and the teacher opened her mouth to speak. 

 

Her podium exploded into a pink dust cloud, clearing to show it had been replaced with chocolate. 

 

“HOW?!” Nearly all the classmates cried out. 

 

“No, seriously, do the shoes mean anything?” Aoko whined. 

 

“The author just liked shoes,” Kaito laughed. Aoko looked ready to throttle him. 

 

* * *

 

 

A month had passed since Kaito Kid and Edogawa Conan were introduced. In that month, Kaito had taken to having a dove act as surveillance to report any activity that went down at the Mouri Detective Agency. 

 

It wasn’t stalking, it wasn’t creepy, and Kuroba Toichi was definitely  _ not  _ rolling in his grave over how cringey his son was acting. 

 

Kaito just  _ needed to know,  _ okay? It was like something had clicked in his mind the moment he’d seen the child’s eyes and he’d been plagued with some sort of fever that’d only be broken by unveiling the secrets of the child’s being. Some magical force was driving Kaito to pull out all the stop, wanting to know what he could about the child. 

 

And so, he watched the records from the camera attached to his dove. 

 

He’d always thought so, but Conan was not a normal child. He seemed to have grown up to fast and, after some digging, found out that he was in no way related to the Mouris. Maybe he had absent parents? Maybe that’s why Kaito was constantly in a state of alarm when the kid did something unsafe? 

 

In the month and two encounters that Kaito had known Conan, he’d already decided he was going to have  _ words  _ with the Mouris’ next chance he could. Because, honestly, who in their right mind let a  _ child investigate a crime scene?!  _ Kaito had only seen the child do it once, but the kid had taken to a crime scene like a fish out of water, picking apart lies, sniffing out clues, hell, even intentionally pointing out evidence that’d lead to the murderer to  _ trained detectives _ . 

 

_ And the adults just let him! They didn’t care that a child was around a dead body or a potentially dangerous murderer who could kill him in a second! A civilian child who, by all rights,  _ Shouldn’t. Be. At. A. Crime. Scene.

 

Connections to famous detectives be damned.

 

Yes, Kaito was going to have words. 

 

And in that month, Kaito learned of Conan’s new classmate, Haibara Ai. His dove never got close enough to pick up audio and Kaito was not about to bug the Agency (he did have some boundaries, after all), but the silent conversations the two children had with their bodies was loud enough for Kaito. 

 

They always acted like the weight of the world was crushing their feeble little shoulders. Especially that Haibara girl, who constantly shifted away from anyone remotely dressed in black. When they parted ways from the other three children, their innocent, bubbly bouncy-steps vanished and an almost heavy mask of exhaustion would settle down on the two children’s faces. 

 

It intrigued and worried Kaito. No child should look like that. No child should ever have to look like that. 

 

Something was going on, Kaito mused to himself every night when his dove brought back new video feed. Something bigger than bodies and suicides and kidnappers. 

 

* * *

 

 

Every night was a constant battle of fear and resignation that left her lying there for a solid hour before exhaustion took her away. Every morning was a struggle to open her eyes, get out of bed.

 

Every night, she was afraid she’d die in her sleep. Every morning, she awoke with a bone-deep exhaustion that never left with rest. Some days she was okay, when everything was manageable. Most days, it took everything in her to force a smile and go about her day as if she wasn’t being turned inside out. 

 

Her limbs shook sometimes, little tremors that spoke volumes of her nerves and strength leaving her. Her hands would go numb, her grip useless as her vision tunneled and spotted. Sometimes her tongue felt like lead in her mouth, unmoving and about to be swallowed and choke her. 

 

Most of all were the beats of her heart, pumping liquid fire through her veins and setting her ablaze from the inside out.

 

Her body was dying. Her chemical makeup couldn’t handle the mutations done to it. Her body was rebelling, angered by the crazed act of desperation she’d subjected herself to. 

 

She was dying and she couldn’t, for the life of her, understand how Kudou acted like his bones weren’t replaced with shattered shards of glass, how the air didn’t tear through his lungs like razor blades, how his brain hadn’t been switched with heavy, wet cotton. 

 

He’d looked shocked, two weeks after meeting her, when he’d gone with her home and she’d collapsed into a pile of bloody vomit. He’d looked shocked when she’d broken into choked sobs as Agasa scrambled for the strengthened pain medicine. 

 

He’d looked shocked when she’d explained that this was the price they paid, a unforeseen side effect as their bodies broke down the poison and rejected it. 

 

His shell-shocked expression, all pale skin, wide eyes, and bloodless lips burned into her mind as she stared at the blood samples, mind racing. 

 

She compared her blood sample to Kudou’s again,  a buzzing entering her ears as she just stared. 

 

“Professor,” Haibara called, turning from the microscope. She heard a thump and heavy footsteps until Agasa wandered down the stairs to where Haibara was. 

 

“You called, Ai-kun?” Agasa asked, tugging on his mustache.

 

“Do you,” Haibara began, voice shaking slightly. “Would you happen to have any blood samples of Kudou-kun before his incident?” Her breathing sounded faint in her ears as the buzzing increased. She felt warm liquid drip down her face and Agasa’s confused expression broke into a alarmed one. 

 

“Nose-nosebleed!” He cried and scurried over to hand the girl a tissue. Haibara took it, wiping at her dirty face as Agasa frowned at her. 

 

“Shinichi’s blood sample? I-I don’t have that type of stuff, Ai-kun. Why?” Agasa looked over at her microscope, his eyes sliding to the computer monitors. 

 

“I’m looking into something,” Haibara spoke, voice muffled by the tissue. “About the antidote.” Not a complete lie but not a complete truth either. 

 

“Oh,” Agasa hummed. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any of his blood.” Agasa left with those words, leaving Haibara to stare at her microscope. 

 

She pursed her lips together, glaring at the slides of blood. Agasa was lying. 

 

But why? 

 

* * *

 

 

“Why do I have to go with you two? Better yet, why are you two even going together?” Kaito dragged his feet. He pointed at Hakuba. “And why is he here?” 

 

“Have you always been this whiney?” Hakuba observed, smirking when Kaito bared his teeth in annoyance. 

 

“If he doesn’t have sweets at least two times a week he can get cranky,” Aoko commented as if talking about a toddler. 

 

“Cranky,” Akako snickered to herself, as if the very thought was a treasure-trove of gold. “Kuroba-kun gets cranky?”

 

“Keep laughing,” Kaito grumbled. “I better get some good ice cream out of this!” 

 

“Duh,” Aoko rolled her eyes. “We’re trying out a new ice cream store, it’s gonna be good!” 

 

“Just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’ll be good,” Hakuba frowned. 

 

“Boys,” Akako simply said with a shake of her long hair. She basked in the stares sent her way and Aoko bumped their shoulders together when the shorter girl caught glares thrown in. 

 

“Their chocolate ice cream better be good or I’m-” Kaito paused, catching sight of blue, red, and white. Oh no. Oh please no.

 

“Oh, isn’t that Edogawa Conan?” Damn Hakuba’s good memory and eyesight. 

 

“Who?” Aoko asked as Akako’s shoulders seemed to draw up. 

 

“He’s been in the news a few times due to his association with the famous Mouri Kogoro, or the Sleeping Detective Mouri, as the media has dubbed him,” Hakuba recited, looking almost pleased. “I’ve been meaning to talk to him.” 

 

“Why would you want to talk to a child?” Kaito snapped out, mood suddenly soured. Like he was anyone to talk. Catching Akako’s bemused smirk, she thought so too. 

 

“He’s always with Detective Mouri. I’d like to ask him about the Detective’s deduction skills and if he’d think of taking on apprentices. I’m not interested myself, but it’d be nice to know if any competition came about. According to recent articles, there’s a high schooler in Osaka who-”

 

“Okay, okay, okay,” Kaito talked over Hakuba. “Let’s just go get the stupid ice cream.” 

 

“Wow, he really is cranky,” Akako giggled behind her hand. Aoko giggled with her. Kaito shoved his hands into his pockets, inwardly panicking. 

 

Oh man, Lady Luck was just not loving him lately, it seemed. Kaito watched as the group of children walked into the shop, followed by that Sonoko girl and Mouri Ran. A intense flare of irritation surged through Kaito at the sight of the teenager. Oh, maybe it’d be his chance to have a serious conversation with the child’s guardian. 

 

Maybe Lady Luck was still loving him, just in a really weird, roundabout way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, but I need SOMEONE to be horrified at how the children are treated/act in the manga/anime. That role has fallen onto Kaito, who has the sense to know YOU SHOULDN'T LET CHILDREN NEAR DEAD BODIES. 
> 
> Next time: A usual day for Conan and Kaito is seriously considering just, like, adopting the Detective Boys and taking them to therapy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a normal day for a child death-magnet and Kaito questions how incompetent adults are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings! Hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry if Kaito is OOC. -shrugs-

Lady Luck wanted Kaito to suffer. He was absolutely, positively  _ sure  _ of this because the moment his little gaggle of friends stepped into the ice cream shop,  he was nearly killed with a well aimed kick to the throat. 

 

“Shinichi! You-oh my god, you aren’t Shinichi,” Mouri Ran stuttered out as Aoko snagged the back of Kaito’s shirt collar, tugging him a safe distance away from the teenage girl. Behind Ran, her friend and the child gawked. 

 

“Excuse you!” Aoko huffed out, puffing up her chest as she stepped in front of her childhood friend, fisted hands on her hips, “but you owe Kaito an apology!” 

 

If Kaito wasn’t trying to calm his palpating heart, he would have been touched at Aoko’s protectiveness. Instead, he was gripping Hakuba’s shoulder as he tried to suck in air without wheezing like a suffocating fish. Hakuba was eyeing the group of children, his eyes brightening at the wide-eyed stare Conan was giving Kaito. 

 

Beside Conan, Haibara nudged him with her elbow, smirking as if she found the entire situation hilarious.

 

“I’m-I’m so sorry! I thought- just, your friend looked like my-um, I’m so sorry!” Ran blabbered, face flushed as she bowed repeatedly to Aoko and Kaito. Aoko pursed her lips, eyes narrowing as Sonoko frowned.

 

“No, you shouldn’t be the one to apologize! The guy looked just like that stupid Kudou! You just through he was cheating on you,” Sonoko snapped, not liking the fact Ran was being publicly humiliated. Kaito, once his chest had stopped constricting, eyed the other customers and saw they were drawing a crowd.

 

“Hey, hey, it’s, um, not really okay but can we all just calm down? I-can we just get some ice cream?” Kaito poked at Aoko’s shoulder, his eyes sliding down to see Conan eyeing him suspiciously. Oh god, what did he do this time?

 

“Hmph,” Aoko huffed and backed down, frowning, “you really can’t just go hurting strangers though! That’s rude.” 

 

“I’m so sorry. Let me buy your ice creams,” Ran blurted and Sonoko gaped at her. “To apologize.” 

 

“Well,” Akako, who had already been eyeing the flavor choices, spoke as she waved away another man offering to buy her sweet treat, “if you insist. You did just nearly throat-kick Kuroba-kun, after all.” Akako’s lips tugged into a amused smile, flicking her hair over one shoulder. Beside her, a man’s legs gave out and he nearly smacked head first into the glass casing covering the ice cream tubs. 

 

The children blinked at her. 

 

“Ran! You shouldn’t buy them ice cream!” Sonoko whined, glaring at Aoko. Aoko’s face fell into a stony mask and she straightened her back, ready to snap if needed. 

 

“Ladies, ladies,” Kaito sighed and produced three yellow freesia flowers, handing them off to the three tense teens. Ran and Sonoko blinked at the flowers, their cheeks dusted pink, while Aoko plucked the flower out of his hand without batting an eyelash. Kaito heard his tiny mystery chuckle softly to himself and he caught Conan trying to smother a snicker when he saw the teen looking at him. Akako cleared her throat, mirth swimming in her eyes as she raised an eyebrow exactantly at Kaito. 

 

Grudgingly, Kaito produced a daffodil for the witch, handing it over. Before anyone could comment on the flowers, Kaito bent down and flicked two peonies from behind the two little girl’s ears. The one, with her dark hair bobbed, gasped and clapped her hands, eyes sparkling. Beside Conan, the mysterious Haibara Ai just raised an eyebrow and politely took the flower, twirling the stem in her fingers.

 

“Edogawa-kun,” she spoke, tone flat as she turned to Conan, who was looking curiously at the peony, “what does this mean?” 

 

“For which culture?” Conan asked as Kaito stood back up, beaming happily. “Chinese flower language sees it as riches, prosperity, and honor. Western flower languages see it as happy marriage, good fortune, or bashfulness. The Hanakotoba meaning is bravery or compassion.” Conan tilted his head, tapping his chin. “Hey, mister, if going by hanakotoba, are you going for the bravery representation?”

 

“Oh~! You know your flower languages, kid,” Kaito laughed, ignoring Hakuba muttering something about him being a ‘walking flower shop’. “You little guys are the Detective Boys, right? Hakuba-kun and I read some of your cases in the papers.” Hakuba eyed Kaito when he heard the audible grind of the magician’s teeth rubbing together. “So you guys are real brave!”

 

“You’ve heard of us?” It was the one girl, Ayumi, who gasped and looked over the moon. “That’s right! We’ve solved a lot of cases!”

 

“Ice cream,” Akako reminded as she tapped her foot. “Let’s go.” Hakuba politely stepped around the clustered group of children and took a place at Akako’s side, peering into the display case to study the flavor choices. Ran and Sonoko, the latter with great reluctant, fell besides the two, also looking at the flavors. 

 

“You know magic, mister?” It was the one of the boys (Genta?) who asked. “You’re like Kaito Kid!” The other boy, Mitsuhiko, nodded in agreement. The children quickly clambered up to the employees, chirping their orders. Conan and Haibara hung near the back, by Aoko and Kaito. 

 

“He is-” Hakuba began to speak and Kaito inwardly panicked. No matter if anyone believed the teen, Hakuba could not allude to his suspicions of Kaito being Kid when Conan was right there. With his track record, it’d end with Kaito wanting to bury himself alive. Without thinking, he shot a hand out and snapped his fingers in front of Hakuba’s turned face. The British Detective sputtered, a pink cloud of smoke blinding him momentarily. Ran, Sonoko, and the children reeled back as the smoke dispersed, leaving the boy with Victorian styled makeup caking his skin. 

 

“KUROBA!” Hakuba snapped and whirled to face the teen, who innocently whistled. Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko giggled and clapped while Sonoko snorted. Ran looked between the two with wide eyes and Akako smoothly turned Aoko’s attention to the chocolate strawberry ice cream. Haibara’s eyebrows were high on her brow, Conan’s eyes narrowing as he studied the two. “For once in your life, can you please behave properly in public!”

 

“I’m insulted,” Kaito chattered easily, winking at the one employee who was gawking shamelessly at them. “If you knew me as well as you liked to believe, you’d know that I’m always on my best behavior! Some detective you are.” Oh wait, shit, that was the wrong thing to say because suddenly the children were rounding on Hakuba.

 

“You’re a detective?!” The children all but hollered, stars in their eyes as Hakuba shifted his footing awkwardly. 

 

“Yes,” he spoke with a cough. “Hakuba Saguru.” He tipped his head down at the group of miniature detectives. 

 

“Eh?” It was Conan who spoke, eyes wide. “ _ You’re  _ Hakuba Saguru?” Hakuba blinked, nodding. The group began grabbing their ice creams, Ran and Sonoko bickering as Ran tried to pay for everyone’s ice creams. 

 

“I recently read that news article about that drug bust you inadvertently brought down when you led the police to the leader during a murder investigation. That was amazing!” Conan chirped as he accepted his coffee ice cream, hiding it quickly from Ran’s hawk like gaze. 

 

“You did what now?” Kaito asked as he greedily snatched his triple chocolate ice cream, eyes almost glistening with tears as he stared at the beautiful dessert. 

 

“Thank you. Due to the fact I’m still considered a minor in both the United Kingdom and Japan, my photos are usually never released unless my father gives permission,” Hakuba began as he nodded to the employee, taking his plain vanilla ice cream. “So it’s not surprising that you’d not know who I am.” 

 

“Still,” Conan smiled. “From what media coverage you have had, you’ve got an impressive track record.” 

 

“No, seriously, you wanna expand on this drug bust?” Kaito asked as he chomped down on a scoop of his ice cream, resisting the urge to moan loudly at the heavenly chocolate mixture in his mouth. Okay, new favorite ice cream place, hands down. 

 

Ran and Sonoko finally settled on splitting the bill and found a table large enough to fit their increased group, Kaito and Hakuba squished around the children as they began to eagerly pry into cases or magic tricks. 

 

“So how long have you done magic tricks?” Haibara asked, taking a dainty bite of her mango ice cream. Conan, careful to hide his caffeinated treat from Ran, popped his spoon in his mouth with a pleased hum. 

 

“Since I was a tiny child,” Kaito shrugged. “Like tinier than this tiny child.” He teasingly pointed to Conan, who glared around his spoon. “You know, kid, coffee won’t help you grow any.”

 

Haibara snorted into her plastic bowl of ice cream, trying to make her laughs discreet as Conan glared at Kaito. 

 

“Seriously though, should a child your age be having anything that’s coffee related?” Kaito asked, frowning as Conan maintained eye contact, raising his spoon and biting down on it with aggression. Well. 

“Actually,” Haibara spoke as she slowly pushed her half eaten bowl away from her, wiping her mouth. She ignored Conan’s worried glance as she pressed her napkin to her mouth for a moment. “That’s false information created by parents who didn’t want their children to consume the caffeine. It’s not for sure, but due to the fact that coffee contains caffeine, which is a stimulant, it’ll at most upset a child’s stomach, increase their blood pressure, disrupt sleep, or cause their heart rate to increase. There are no scientific facts that lead to the conclusion that coffee disrupts a child’s growth.” 

 

“...what.” She-she sounded so unlike a child, it honestly freaked Kaito out. 

 

“I’ve heard that,” Hakuba responded as if a seven-or-eight year old hadn’t just sounded like a adult. “Interesting to know though that it’s actually a myth.” 

 

“So mister,” Ayumi spoke as she leaned against Conan’s shoulder, beaming at Kaito from across the table, “what other kind of magic tricks can you do?” 

 

“Please stop calling me mister. It makes me feel old. Call me Kaito.” Kaito hummed and tapped his chin, thinking, “If I tell you, then it wouldn’t be a surprise when you see the tricks!” Ayumi frowned, tilting her head to the side. 

 

“But I thought that was only to reveal the trick, right Conan-kun?” Ayumi asked, hugging Conan’s arm. 

 

“Part of the fun of magic is the anticipation of what’s to come,” Kaito grinned, clapping his hands. A paper crane appeared in his open palms and the children ‘oh’ed at it. “Thinking ‘what could he do next?’” He set the paper crane down, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. As he did so, five chocolate coins fell out of his hair and landed on the table. Ayumi gave a squeak and Genta eyed the candy hungrily. 

 

Kaito tossed the coins over with a grin, Hakuba’s softening gaze focused on Kaito as Conan tucked his and Haibara’s into his pocket. 

 

“So Kaito-nii-chan,” Genta spoke and shoved the chocolate coin into his mouth, “are you a magician then?” Kaito bowed slightly, pretending to tip his top hat at the children.

 

“At your service. Kuroba Kaito, Magician Extraordinaire!” Kaito snapped his fingers and confetti rained down on him, barely avoiding the bowls of ice cream. Haibara gave a dry, slow clap at the display of magic. Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi clapped vigorously while Hakuba snorted and took another bite of his melting treat. 

 

“Oh, Conan-kun!” 

 

Conan and the others turned, Kaito mentally raising an eyebrow at the sight of the two familiar police officers. Takagi Wataru and Satou Miwako, if he remembered correctly.

 

“Ah!” Ayumi called with a giant wave. “Are you two on a date?” Takagi flushed and glanced around everywhere as Satou smiled. 

 

“Well-well,” Takagi stammering as Satou giggled. “Yes-no-um-”

 

“We’re taking a break before going back to work,” Satou explained as she gestured to their bowls of ice cream. “We heard it was good so we’re trying it out, right Takagi-kun?”  

 

“Yeah,” he sighed as he slumped his shoulders. The two officers waved and parted ways, leaving for a small table. 

 

Conan opened his mouth to ask something but cut off as the distinct sound of gagging broke the chatter of the shop, followed by a scream. 

 

As if on cue, Ran, Sonoko, and the children sighed and pushed their bowls away from them, expressions glum. Kaito blinked rapidly as a man a few tables away from them tumbled out of his chair, hands gripping tightly to his chest. His partner, a woman, was still screaming while one of the employee’s rushed to get their phone. 

 

“He’s dead!” A man, glasses hiding panicked eyes, proclaimed as he knelt by the body.

 

Icy water replaced his blood, the world going on mute for a moment as Kaito’s vision tunneled on the newly proclaimed corpse. Dead. That guy was dead. Not ten feet from them, a man just died. Kaito’s stomach flipped once, twice, and he had to mentally smack himself to remember how to breathe. 

 

Conan’s shoulders hunched up and he shot a look to the other children to his other side, all of them looking varying degrees of sad and eager to solve the case.

 

“Stay here,” Conan demanded sternly as he saw Genta and Mitsuhiko get ready to slid off their chairs. Kaito snapped back into focus, seeing the two children pout. 

 

Honest to god pout. What the actual fuck.

 

“No fair, Conan-kun!” Ayumi whined and Kaito bit back the bile that rose at her childish tone. “You can’t be the only one to solve the case!”

 

Was...was she honestly whining that Conan wouldn’t let her near a dead body? What kind of children were  _ anxious  _ to see a dead body? Did they not understand that he was dead? Were they too young to fully comprehend what was actually happening?

 

Kaito spared a look at Ran, who already had her phone out and was speaking in a rushed tone to the person on the other end of the phone. She barely even looked at the children, too busy with her phone call. Sonoko looked slightly bothered, manicured nails tapping nervously on the white tabletop as she tried to ignore the dead body. Akako looked sick to her stomach, holding Aoko to her side as the shorter girl hid her face in her shoulder. 

 

Well, if the no one was going to step in as the responsible adult, Kaito decided it’d just have to fall to his shoulders. 

Hakuba shot up from the table, only to nearly titter backwards when he felt a iron grip on his wrist tug him backwards. 

 

Kaito’s blank face met his confused stare. 

 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Kaito asking, tone showing he wasn’t in the mood for any arguments, and tightened his grip when Hakuba tried to jerk out of his hold.

 

“Kuroba-” Hakuba snarled. 

 

“Sit down,” Kaito snapped out, eyes drilling into Conan and the Detective Boys as they glared at each other, Conan’s more of a stern warning while the others were a defiant pout. “Now. None of you are leaving.”

 

“But-” Conan looked away from the kids, glancing at the body- “we’re detect-.”

 

“You’re children,” Kaito cut off, eyes hard, determined to pretend there wasn’t a dead body not ten feet from them. A dead body. A  _ dead body _ . In front of Kaito’s ice cream. “Now stay in your seats or so help me, I will  _ tie you down _ .” 

 

“Kuroba-kun, let go of me this instant,” Hakuba seethed, tugging uselessly. “I have a duty-”

 

“Do you have a badge?” Kaito asked, voice whimsical as he harshly jerked Hakuba into the table, suddenly in his personal space as he leaned in close. “Do you receive paychecks? Do you have any sort of identification that you work with the Tokyo Municipal Police Department? Are you a certified detective?” 

 

“What does that have to do with this?” Hakuba tried to shift away from Kaito but Kaito held him still, eyes dark. 

 

“You are a teenager.” Kaito’s voice was soft, words almost a breathy breeze against the panicked chattering echoed behind them. “We’re all  _ teenagers _ .  _ They are children _ .” Kaito’s eyes snapped to the Detective Boys for a second before returning Hakuba’s wide-eyed gaze. “I do not care how talented you are. I do now care how intelligent you are, how many times you’ve dealt with this sort of thing, how many cases you’ve solved. As long as I am here, you will  _ not  _ be going near that dead body.” Hakuba opened his mouth to argue but Kaito spoke right over him. “You are not hired as a private investigator or a sort of consulting detective. You do not get paid for your services. Despite the leniency that the police give you all, you are not legally detectives. You do not have badges, you do not have a working visa, you have not even attended any sort of police academy.” 

 

Hakuba went paler and paler with Kaito’s words, the other children gaping at him. “In words, you are a detective. In experience and skills, you are a detective. In the legal world, you are a nosy child who’d get in the way of the real police. They’ve done fine without you before and they’ll do fine without you now. So sit down or I will make it clear that you should never underestimate me.” 

 

Hakuba opened his mouth, closed it, and then sat down stiffy.

 

“You’re mean,” Ayumi snapped out as she crossed her arms over her chest, slumping back in her chair. “Why should we listen to you?” She kicked up her feet like a true child, showing how unfair Kaito was being in this  _ reasonable  _ situation.

 

“Ayumi-chan,” Haibara’s voice cut in, voice baring the tiniest of tremors, “apologize right now. All of you apologize, even you Edogawa-kun, and then thank Kuroba-kun for his kindness.” 

 

“What?” Conan looked at the girl as if she’d lost her mind. Haibara pressed her napkin to her mouth, her jaw clenched as she breathed through her nose. 

 

“Apologize,” Haibara repeated. “And then thank him.” Haibara swallowed once, twice, and pressed her lips together until they were thin white lines. 

 

“We’re-we’re sorry,” the children muttered, looking confused and irked that they had to apologize. “Thank you.” 

 

Conan’s shoulders slumped in visible relief as he eyed Kaito warily. “Thank you.” He winced as Haibara elbowed him. “And sorry.” 

 

Kaito nodded, hearing someone announce that the police were on their way. Satou and Takagi were already surrounding the body, Satou demanding that no one leave until the other officers arrived. Takagi was eyeing their table in alarm, wondering what was taking so long for the nosy detectives to come over and snoop. 

 

Kaito smirked to himself, knowing that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. 

 

“Let’s play a game to pass the time until the police arrive,” Kaito demanded and the grumpy children blinked at him questioningly. “It’s a unsolvable mystery!”

 

“Oh god no,” Hakuba groaned, rubbing at his eyes. “Anything but your stupid mysteries.” 

 

“A unsolvable mystery?” Conan looked intrigued, eyes shining gratefully when he saw the other children also looked curious. “What is it?”

 

Kaito glanced to see Sonoko and Ran comforting Akako and Aoko and hummed. 

 

“Well,” Kaito spoke and clasped his hands together, setting them on the table as he smiled. “A circus comes into town. In the circus, they have the usual animal trainers, ringmaster, acrobats. This particular circus had a very special, rare tightrope walker who always performed with a harpist.” 

 

“A what?” Genta asked.

 

“A harpist. Someone who plays the harp,” Conan explained for Kaito. Kaito nodded and continued.

 

“It was during one of their usual performances that it happened. The tightrope walker went about his act, walking along the tightrope without his safety net, as was per usual. Well, when the music stopped, the man died. The police blamed the tightrope walker’s assistant for the death. No one was arrested.”

 

“What?” Hakuba squinted his eyes. 

 

“The only evidence was a broken harp string. How did the man die?” Kaito gave a wide, curled smile as everyone just sat there, staring blankly at him. 

 

“That...that makes no sense,”Conan frowned. “There isn’t enough evidence to determine that. First of all, there was what, over 200 people there? Also, why was he a special tightrope walker? Why did he have a harpist with him for his acts? What evidence did the police find?”

 

“Figure it out,” Kaito spoke and leaned back as Hakuba’s eyebrow twitched. 

 

“Kuroba-kun, these are so stupid. You make them unsolvable because they make no sense,” the teen hissed. 

 

“You guys just aren’t smart enough to solve it,” Kaito goaded with a roll of his eyes. Haibara snorted. Some of her color had returned throughout Kaito’s story and Kaito inwardly smiled at that. The girl had looked ready to double over. 

 

Behind them, Takagi was asking people close by what they’d seen before the deceased man had fallen out of his chair. 

 

“Why was he special?” Ayumi asked. “Did he have some sort of bizarre talent?” Kaito shook his head, fiddling with his paper crane.

 

“Nope,” Kaito spoke, popping the ‘p’. He paused in messing with his paper creation. “Well, I guess it was a bizarre talent. More unbelievable than anything else.” 

 

“Unbelievable for a tightrope walker?” Conan questioned softly. “Did he use his hands to get across the rope?” 

 

“If he did,” Hakuba commented as he leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his smarting wrist. Kaito inwardly winced at the fact he’d probably gripped the teen to hard. “Then what’s the point of the harp. It has to be important if he mentioned it twice. Why was no one arrested if the assistant was the murderer?”

 

“Ew,” Kaito scrunched his nose up. “Just boring questions. It’ll give you a hint - accidental death.”

 

“Accidental?” Conan looked up. “How would it be accidental if the assistant was the culprit?” 

 

“It was the harpist then, right?” Hakuba guessed. “He’s the assistant. But then, why wasn’t he arrested? You said no one was arrested.” The children sat there stumped. Kaito grinned. 

 

He loved these little riddles he made up. 

 

“He had a disability.” It was Haibara who spoke up, glazed eyes staring at the tabletop as she pressed her napkin to her nose in a quick dab. “Didn’t he?”

 

“Hoh~!” Kaito cooed as Conan and Hakuba stared at her in confusion. “Smart little girl. How do you figure?” Haibara shifted in her seat, wincing to herself before she lowered her napkin. It was quick, but Kaito caught a splotch of red against the white. What?

 

“Bizarre talent. Unbelievable talent. For something like tightrope walking, which is a acrobatic sport that involves balance and concentration, what would be considered unbelievable?” Haibara rubbed at her chest, blinking slowly. “Maybe a disability. People tend to assume that because you are disabled, you can’t perform certain tasks. Hence, why they’d consider it unbelievable.”  

 

“Was he deaf, then?” Genta asked with a frown. 

 

“If he was deaf,” Mitsuhiko began with a sigh, “then why the harp?”

 

“...was the assistant a person?” Ayumi slowly asked, eyebrows pinched in fear of her being wrong.

 

“What?” Conan and Hakuba looked at the girl while Kaito’s grin widened. Oh, he loved how smart these kids were!

 

“Why do you think that?” Kaito questioned, resting his chin in his palm as he watched police officers walk into the shop, many of them glancing at the table in bewilderment. God, how often was his tiny mystery at crime scenes to where it was considered the norm for him to intervene? 

 

And why was no one preventing it? Kaito had serious concerns to discuss with Ran. 

 

“Well...what...what if the harp was the assistant...then...then you can’t exactly arrest a object, right?” Ayumi flushed as Conan gasped silently, the riddle connecting more smoothly in his mind. 

 

Well, that didn’t take long did it?

 

“He was blind,” Conan deduced. Hakuba’s eyes lightened as he realized the same thing as Conan. “He was blind and used the harp as his guide to know when he was getting close to the other side of the tightrope.”

 

“During the performance, the harp string snapped,” Hakuba continued as he leaned closer to the table. “The harpist panicked at the sudden snap and stopped playing for a moment but that was all it took for the performer to think he’d made it to the other side and stepped off.”

 

“But instead, he fell to his death,” Conan finished. “That’s...unrealistic.” The children sat there, dissatisfied with the ending to the story. 

 

“Ah well, I’m not a detective-” Kaito shrugged- “or a mystery writer. I did the best I could.” Haibara gave a coughed chuckle and Conan rolled his eyes. 

 

“Um,” Takagi spoke up as he stood behind Conan’s chair, startling the table. “The customers are allowed to leave now.”

 

“What?” Hakuba blinked, looking over to see the forensic team covering up the corpse. “You figured it out already?” Takagi had the decency to look insulted at the insinuation that the police couldn’t solve it without high schoolers help. 

 

“No,” Takagi shook his head, “but we’ve taken all the eyewitness accounts that we need. We’re letting people leave now.” 

 

“Just like that?” Aoko breathed out, shaking as she pressed closer into Akako. Akako had seemed to calm down, using one hand to brush through Aoko’s brown curls while her other tapped as her chin in thinly veiled impatience. 

 

“Yes,” Satou spoke as she joined Takagi, giving a comforting smile. “You are free to leave. I’m surprised you didn’t try to do your own detective work.” She eyed the children, who went back to glaring accusingly at Kaito. 

 

“Why would you think it’s okay for children to be near a dead body?” Kaito asked seriously, staring blankly at the two adults. Neither of them answered and Kaito just continued to stare until Satou shifted awkwardly. 

 

“Um, yes, well, it was nice to see you all. Hope it won’t be too soon before we see eachother again. Goodbye,” Satou spoke and quickly ushered Takagi away as Kaito followed them with his burning gaze. 

 

“Your boyfriend is weird,” Kaito heard Sonoko loudly tell Aoko. Aoko looked at her in complete confusion, pallor still sickly but tight as she scrunched her nose at the rich teen. 

 

“What do you mean?” Aoko asked, snuggling her cheek into Akako’s warm shoulder. 

 

“He’s...being weird with the brats,” Sonoko supplied, giving the two Ekoda girls a weird look. Ran casted worried glanced at the children, who were collecting their trash to toss. 

 

“...he’s-” Aoko’s mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to grasp the words to say- “he’s being normal? Do-do you just let the children wander around a dead body and potential crime scene?” 

 

Aoko’s father  _ never  _ brought work home with him (besides Kaito Kid but that was  _ completely different, okay? _ ) so Aoko never had to encounter dead bodies, murderers, kidnappers, or the like. Aoko couldn’t fathom, even now, seeing dead bodies on the regular to the point where you didn’t even bat an eyelash at allowing tiny, innocent children snoop around without any sense of danger to criminals still lurking about.

 

“It’s-it’s complicated,” Ran began, trying to defend their actions. Akako snorted unlady like and Sonoko glared daggers.

 

“I must say, this has been an eventful outing. We really must be going now, right Kuroba-kun, Hakuba-kun?” Akako spoke as she nudged Aoko, shimming the two of them out of the booth. Aoko stood, brushing imaginary dust from her uniform as Hakuba stood slowly. Kaito sighed and stood as well, stretching as he pointedly avoided looking at the covered body. 

 

“It was nice meeting you,” Kaito smiled. They’re never properly introduced themselves, not really, but Kaito knew enough about them to not need to. He’d meet them again, he knew he would. Especially with how interested he was in his tiny mystery. And now Haibara Ai, the girl who looked like she was a dead person walking. 

 

Tiny mysteries, more like it. 

 

“Thanks for the ice cream,” Kaito turned to Ran, smile tight as the girl gave a feeble excuse of a smile. “If we ever meet again, let’s hope that it’s on better circumstances.” The children gave weak farewells, Conan silent as he studied Kaito. Akako marched the four out of the shop, barely sparing a glance to anyone else as she tugged Aoko behind her. 

 

Soon Hakuba and Aoko were at the front, whispering softly to themselves as Hakuba rubbed small circles along her back. Akako saddled up beside Kaito, pensive as she twirled a lock of hair between her fingers. 

 

“Did you see?” Akako asked as she turned too-old eyes to Kaito. “Did you see it begging, unsatisfied with the table scraps it was offered? It’s starving, Kuroba-kun. It’s starving and its hunger will only grow the longer it is denied its true meal.” 

 

“Akako,” Kaito exhaled through his nose. “Despite my love for riddles, yours never make any sense to me.” Akako gave a quiet snort and touched his arm. Kaito tensed.

 

“That child is surrounded by Death, Kaito. What happened at that store? It was presenting a gift to the boy like a dog would a dead bird. Begging, trying to get in his good graces to it can eat faster.” Akako stopped walking, worrying her bottom lip for a moment. 

 

“What about that other little girl?” Kaito asked, remembering the blood spotting her napkin and how her and Conan always acted when alone. Akako gave a sliver of a smile as she seemed to reign her emotions in. 

 

“She stinks,” Akako commented. “She stinks of Death and basks in his presence, clinging onto the child like a lifeline, even subconsciously.”

 

“Okay, cool,” Kaito bluntly stated, mind blanking on what he  _ could  _ say. Akako’s smile fell as she rolled her eyes at him. The two continued walking, Akako running a hand through her hair. 

 

“I don’t understand how anyone can act like a death is an inconvenience,” Akako whispered softly. “It is natural, yes. A constant, yes. But...how people acted in there. How the children acted in there-”

 

“Humans like to pretend they’re invincible,” Kaito cut her off, eyes straight ahead. “They try as hard as they can to pretend that the world stops for them, that they won’t die.” All the text of Pandora Kaito had ever read flashed through his mind. “We are human because we fear death, because we feel fear.” 

 

“But,” Akako murmured. 

 

“But,” Kaito agreed, “the moment we stop fearing death?” The children, eager to go to the dead body, acting like it was a game, popped into Kaito’s head. “That moment we don’t even bat an eyelash to someone dying? That’s when we worry.”

 

“Because then we aren’t human,” Akako breathed out, clenching her hands together behind her back. 

 

“Because then we’re monsters,” Kaito corrected, a dark smile tugging his lips. 

 

And what did that make Edogawa Conan, who attracted death like a magnet and seemed to have Death itself on a leash, from what Akako hinted towards? What did that make that child, who stared at a corpse like it was just another day in his life, with eyes too wary to even really muster up anything than resignation? 

 

“Kudou Shinichi,” Akako spoke up, drawing Kaito from his musing. Kaito blinked and glanced at her. She was watching Hakuba and Aoko bump shoulders. “Mouri Ran-san was talking about him, during our outing. They’re...not dating, but are, apparently. The spirits whispered about him too, back many years ago.”

 

“Yeah?” Kaito asked, raising an eyebrow. The name sounded familiar. 

 

“Yes,” Akako hummed and then locked eyes with Kaito. “The moment he was born, Death was anxious.” 

 

“Okay,” Kaito sighed. “Thanks.” The group split ways, Kaito slinging an arm over Aoko’s shoulder as they walked home. 

 

Well, looked like it was even more complicated than first thought. Good thing Kaito liked a challenge. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to many different hanakotoba websites:
> 
> Freesia means childish/immaturity  
> Daffodil means respect
> 
> Also, with Kaito's riddle. It's a riddle my cousin told me once except his riddle was "The music stopped and the man died". Apparently it was the type of riddle where you just fucking bullshit the goddamn thing because his answer was "guy worked at a circus, a tornado hit, and he died during a stampede of panicked elephants" like how tf are you supposed to figure that out??? 
> 
> Anyways, I love the idea of the Ekoda kids just...not getting murders like the Beika kids. Like, they aren't around murder and kidnappings and shit like the Beika peeps. They aren't accustomed to this shit and it shows. 
> 
> Ran tries. She really does, but she can only do so much since she's a child too. 
> 
> Kaito is just Done(tm) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. I Won't Hesitate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBH I've had like half of this chapter in my docs for months an forgot what I was doing with this story so I just kinda said 'fuck it' and winged it. I've decided to start getting the ball rolling. So sorry if this chapter doesn't flow really well - idk what past me was doing

“ _ Sekai azamuku _ ,” Kaito sung out as he fiddled with his card gun, bopping his head side to side to the beat of the song. He groped blindly for a screw driver, knee bouncing up and down as Jii glanced warily at him. 

 

“How’s it going, Jii-chan?” Kaito asked, looking up from his gadget. Jii, gripping a small handgun, gestured to the KID suit hanging on a mannequin, looking clean and ironed. 

 

“Let’s find out if this works,” Jii spoke and pointed the gun at the suit. Kaito watched, expression taunt, as Jii fired the gun. The bullet buried into the suit, tearing a hole through the white blazer. Jii set the gun down, walking over to the mannequin. Kaito followed, a bounce in his step. Jii stepped to the side as Kaito all but tore the white outer layer off, revealing a ruined blue dress shirt. Kaito unbuttoned the shirt, tugging the right side open to peer at the mannequin surface. 

 

A thin black tank-top looking material covered the mannequin, the bullet crunched up against the breast of the tank-top. 

 

“It worked!” Kaito cheered, peeling the tank top back to see the untouched surface of the mannequin. “Wonderful! Perfect! Now the possibility of me being shot through the heart has a now lesser percent of killing me.” 

 

“I don’t understand why you decided to only start wearing  bullet proof protection  _ now _ . Snake and his accomplices have been coming after you for months,” Jii observed as Kaito hummed loudly, poking and tugging at the kevlar tank-top. He paused, tilting his head to the side as he stared wordlessly at the protection. 

 

“Things are becoming a lot more hectic now,” Kaito began slowly, fingers prying the bullet from the tank-top. He ran his thumb over the indent the bullet left on the tank-top, lips tugged down. “I mean, Snake has become a whole lot more active so, you know, gotta be safe.” 

 

“You could have been safe from the beginning,” Jii countered and Kaito laughed, shrugging his shoulders. 

 

“But Jii,” he turned and brandished his shark-like grin, “where’s the fun in that?” 

 

Jii gave a long-suffering sigh and dragged his feet to clean up their mess. 

 

* * *

 

 

“I can see Hakuba being a Vine star,” Kaito commented as the group walked to school. Somehow, Hakuba had taken to walking with them in the mornings and while usually this would annoy Kaito to no end, it made him feel a bit less paranoid about the safety of the detective.

 

“A what?” Aoko asked, looking up from her notebook. Hakuba was leaning into her personal space, pointing out a mistake she’d made on her homework. He scowled at Kaito.

 

“Y’know, Vine? The crazy popular social video app that took off scarily well in America? I could see Hakuba making some cringey Sherlock-inspired vines for the hell of it.” Kaito shrugged his shoulders and Hakuba rolled his eyes. 

 

“Have some originality, at least.” He looked back at Aoko’s notebook. “You missed a number. It’s supposed to be 24, not 4.” 

 

“No,” Aoko groaned and smacked her head with the notebook. “I hate math.” She shoved the notebook into her bag and frowned at Kaito. “Kaito, can we have dinner together tonight? My dad’s gonna be gone because of the Heist tonight.” 

 

“Sure,” Kaito replied, knowing he’d have enough time to enjoy dinner with his best friend and still make it to the late night heist. 

 

“How about you, Hakuba?” Aoko asked, turning to the teen. Nope, no way. That’d make it more difficult for Kaito to end the dinner early. 

 

“I would love to,” Hakuba replied, smug smile in place as he glanced at Kaito. “I’ll inform Baaya.” 

 

“Great!” Aoko beamed, looking all to pleased, unaware that she had just ruined any chances of a peaceful dinner for them. “I’m making curry.” 

 

“Yay,” Kaito cheered flatly, shoulders slumping. “It’s going to taste bad with him around.” Hakuba rolled his eyes at Kaito’s insult. 

 

“Everything tastes bad when your near. You usually put something foul tasting in the food as a practical joke,” Hakua shot back. 

 

“It was food coloring and  _ it tasted fine! _ ” Kaito’s voice rose in pitch, making the two other teens cringe at the shrillness of it. “Sorry.” 

 

“You need to stop everything,” Hakuba snorted. “What are you doing with your life?” Kaito tripped, skidding against the ground as Hakuba guided Aoko to continue walking. 

 

“Did you just quote a Vine?” Kaito shrieked and chased after the two. 

 

* * *

 

 

Kevlar tank-top rubbing against his chest and adding a extra layer of uncomfortable warmth under his clothes, he was ready to go. Dinner had been chaotic, Kaito being kicked out fifteen minutes in after he replaced the rice with sprinkles and glitter. Aoko apparently couldn’t take a joke. 

 

Adjusting his baseball cap, he checked his surroundings against before moving through the crowd of people. Wearing a band-styled varsity jacket over a normal white T-shirt and jeans, he looked as normal as could be. Add in his blonde wig and blue eyes and foundation, he looked like a stereotypical American tourist. 

 

When he’d first started his heists, he’d gone for an all-black approach for his crowd-meshing, still new to the game and not realizing that black would bring more attention than casual clothing. Now he knew better. 

 

His eyes caught a flash of blue and his gaze fell a few feet down, where he saw his tiny little mystery weaving through the legs of the crowd. The heist, set up in the ballroom of a famous museum, was packed to the brim as people chattered excitedly. Kaito Kid’s fame was only growing and he smiled softly to himself, snapping a picture of a few guards by a cased vase. 

 

“Hey little boy.” 

 

A shiver ran down Kaito’s spine at that tone. It was a weird tone -  saccharine and high-pitched. Fake and ugly and coming from a middle-aged man towering over Kaito’s mystery. 

 

Conan was staring at the salt-and-peppered man, blank eyes moving from his comb-mustache to his average sized body. The man looked like a normal businessman, neat suit and smile in place. 

 

“Where’s your mommy? It’s dangerous for you to be yourself. Want me to help you find her?” The adult bent down slightly, trying to appear friendly. Kaito’s eyes narrowed under the brim of his hat. He didn’t like how he was looking at the child. 

 

“There you are, Shouta!” Kaito was behind the man in an instant, Japanese heavily accented like an American speaking a unfamiliar language. “I was worried about you! You can’t leave my side!” He nudged the man to the side, crouching down to smile at Conan. Something flashed in the child’s eyes before he smiled sheeply.

 

“ **Sorry Bret** ,” the child responded in fluent English. Inwardly, Kaito squawked in alarm, while his mask just smiled wider. “ **I was looking for the restroom!** ”

 

“ **Tell me next time! You can’t be wandering around by yourself!** ” Kaito scowled with a genuine heat. Where were the Mouris and why was that list of his steadily growing longer? Conan’s eyes widened for a second at the fluent English, catching no accent in sight, and nodded slowly like a properly chastised child.

 

“You-you’re his-?” That sugary-sweet tone was gone, replaced with a disgruntled growl. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. He needed some manners taught.

 

Kaito peered over his shoulder, eyes sharp as he stared at the man down. 

 

“I’m his father. What did you want?” All pretense of politeness were gone, leaving nothing but icicles on his tongue and acid in his gaze. “Do I need to go get a security guard?” Kaito straightened, Conan’s tiny hand moving to squeeze his in an act of a child scared. The man blustered for a moment before turning, giving a parting nod. The two watched him for a moment before the thief winced, feeling that tiny hand tightened almost painfully around his digits. 

 

“Kiddo, I can feel my bones grinding together. Can you - ow - let go?” The teen flinched and knelt down, making eye contact with Conan. The child smiled wide and innocent, the only thing giving himself away being his narrowed eyes. 

 

“What were you doing?” Conan asked without an ounce of childishness in his voice. “You gave yourself away instantly.” His fingers released Kaito and he snatched his hand back, rubbing it with a pout. 

 

“I didn’t like how that guy was acting towards you,” Kaito snapped as he blew on his throbbing hand. “Ow, kid, do you have super-strength?” The small detective snorted at that and rocked back on his heels, eyebrow raised. 

 

“What do you mean, ‘acting towards’ me? You’re one to talk, Mr. P-” Kaito shot a hand out and flicked Conan on the nose. He reeled back, blinking rapidly in bewilderment as the thief scowled down at him. 

 

“Bad child.” Kaito checked his watch. “You gonna be okay? I have to go.” Conan stared at him, mouth opening and closing for a second. 

 

“This - this is weird.” Kaito mentally snorted. “Are you - you’re Kaito Kid right?” There was something hesitant in his tone, something vulnerable and quiet. Kaito tilted his head to the side, a familiar smirk stretching his lips. Conan’s wary expression seemed to relax, just the smallest amount. Huh. 

 

“Where’s your sister?” Kaito made a show of looking around, eyes narrowing. “Where’s that Detective? Where’s-”

 

“Is everything okay here?” Kaito’s mind came to a screeching halt and something must have slipped through his mask because Conan’s hand shot to his lips in a attempt to stifle a surprised snort. 

 

Hakuba eyed the two, expression pinched. “Edogawa-kun, is this...man bothering you?” His eyes stared intently at Kaito, who smiled brightly back. 

 

“No, this mister was just helping me look for Ran-nee-chan!” Conan chirped in that high-pitched mock of a child’s tone. “I got separated from her!” 

 

_ Hooh~ the little mystery isn’t outing me,  _ Kaitou thought, smile tightening.  _ Why _ ? That wasn’t a good thing. No, it was actually the worst thing that could happen. It meant the little demon spawn was planning something. 

 

“Well, since you know this guy, I’ll just leave you-” 

 

Conan grabbed his pant leg and gave Kaito the biggest puppy-dog eyes he’d ever seen a child mimic. “But Onii-san, I want you to meet Ran-nee-chan! She’ll want to thank you for helping me!” 

 

This little shit. 

 

Kaito stared at Conan, expression blank. Hakuba eyed him, eyebrow raising. 

 

“I hate you,” Kaito hissed in his Kid voice just as his wrist-watch beeped. Hakuba’s eyes went wide and he lurched forward. A cloud of pink exploded and Conan grunted as he was hefted up. 

 

The room was smokey and spinning as his sense of direction left him. Blue eyes blinked through the haze of pink smoke, feeling the arms around him tighten when the police and guards gave chase. 

 

“You and your stupid trouble-magnet self,” Kid grumbled above him and Conan looked up, eyes widening as he saw a genuine glare on the usually smug-face. 

 

“This is kidnapping,” Conan stated as they took a sharp corner, Kid leaping three steps at a time. 

 

“This is me saving your ass - uh, I mean butt. Butt. Please don’t tell your sis I said a bad word.” Kid threw open a door and slammed it shut, setting Conan down. “That creep was hovering. Probably waiting for you to get alone again.” He looked at Conan before moving to the window. They were on the fourth floor. Too close to the ground to use his hand-glider. Uhg. 

 

Conan heard the footsteps pass their room and he tilted his head to the side. “Why do you care?” Kid shot him a baffled look before rummaging through his suit pockets. 

 

“Did I seriously just hear a kid ask me why I cared if he was being potentially targeted by a assumed predator? I need - I need to go. I need to go and sleep and pretend that you have suitable role-models in your life.” 

 

Conan raised a bemused eyebrow as Kid produced a grappling hook gun from his suit. He stood there for a moment before opening his mouth. 

 

“Why are you wearing a bullet-proof vest?” 

 

Kid paused in shooting the grappling hook out the window, head tilted towards the child. Conan rolled his eyes. “I could feel it under your suit. The police don’t carry loaded guns. At most, they have tasers and sleeping darts.”

 

“That’s not creepy,” Kid mumbled to himself and lowered his arm. “I’ve got a lot of enemies, kid. The Big Bad Police aren’t my only-”

 

A echoing crack rung throughout the air as a bullet whizzed by Kid’s shoulder. He threw himself away from the window, tackling Conan as he did so. They rolled and Kid pressed up against the side of a bookshelf, trying to take shelter from the sniper. 

 

“A sniper?” Conan hissed against his chest, wiggling to be free. “Let me-”

 

In his ear-piece, Kid could hear the officers reporting the sound of gun fire. He tightened his grip on Conan and peeked around the corner of a bookshelf. 

 

A bullet embedded into the wood above his head. He sucked in a breath and tucked back up between the case and wall, his heart hammering. 

 

“I blame you,” Kid grumbled to Conan, trying to control his breathing. 

 

“Should you really say that to a kid?” Conan snorted as he elbowed Kid in the gut. His grip slackened and Conan lunged out of his arms. Three bullets followed on his heels as Conan rushed out of the way of the window, tucking against the desk opposite of Kaito. He gave a grunt as he peeked at Kid. “Get out of their vantage point and they can’t shoot!”

 

“ _ DID YOU JUST-!!!”  _ Kid clamped his mouth shut, body visibly trembling in horror and rage. Did this child - did this child just  _ run out in the open of a active shooter?! _

 

He wasn’t going to have words, he was fucking calling CPS. 

 

“I’ll distract them-”

 

“You’ll do no such thing!” His mind was going into overdrive. Conan didn’t sound right. Conan didn’t sound  _ right _ . His voice was pinched, like he was gritting his teeth. 

 

Ice filled his veins. Did he get hit? Did he get shot? Forget horror, Kid’s body almost vibrated through the god-damn bookshelf in unfiltered rage. He was  _ livid _ .

 

“You’re shot.” He voice sounded eerily calm even to his own ears. “You were shot.” Conan gave a little meek laugh and white-noise buzzed in his mind. 

 

“It’s a scratch. I’ve had worse.” 

 

That didn’t help anything. Kid took a moment to hear that the police had found the sniper and was on pursuit. He exhaled and peeked out of his hiding place. No bullet followed his appearance and he hesitantly knelt out. Nothing. 

 

He lunged and rolled over to Conan, bracing his hands and knees against the carpeted floor beside the child. Blood was streaming down his calf, where a diagonal cut was. The bullet must have grazed him. 

 

“Okay, okay, don’t move,” Kid breathed out, hands shaking. Conan shoved his outreaching hands away, his face pale. Was he going into shock? 

  
  


“I’m okay,” Conan stuttered out, trying to scoot away from the thief. “I don’t-”

 

The full moon’s light streamed in through the opened window, casting shadows across the room. Kid’s entire body froze as the moonlight struck Conan, those blue eyes turning into glowing jewels of red. 

 

But that wasn’t what made his freeze. No. It was his blood, glowing just as brightly as his eyes, and slowly slipping back into his body as if time was reversing. It was his flesh, slowly mending itself back together with each excruciatingly slow second. It was the child before him looking so horrified, so terrified of what Kid was witnessing, that made him freeze. 

 

“That’s not a birth defect,” Kid stated dumbly as the bullet wound healed up, leaving unblemished skin. The only sign a wound had happened at all was the blood staining the child’s sock and the carpet. 

 

“...yes it is?” The little mystery tried. Kid pressed his lips into a thin line and exhaled through his nose. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not even funny how short this chapter is. But, clues and hints :)

Kid counted to ten, held his breath, and then blew it out in a long drag. 

 

“Okay.” He rubbed at his face, nearly knocking his monocle off. “Okay.” He kept his gloved palms pressed to his eyes, just breathing.

 

“...are you crying?” Conan squinted at the thief, who, in the darkness of the bullet-hole riddled room, emitted a shrill whine in his throat. 

 

“Okay.” Kid looked Conan right in the eyes. “Try again.” Conan stared and in the silence, you could hear the audience being evacuated from the building. He distantly wondered where Ran was and if she was flipping off the walls in worry over his disappearance. 

 

“...try again?” Conan questioned softly and Kid nodded. 

 

“Try again. That’s not a birth defect.” Kid’s words were flat, his gaze heavy as Conan bristled up like a wet cat. 

 

“Yes it is!” Conan snapped out, drawing his legs up to his chest as he shifted away from the thief. “I was born like this - hence, a birth defect!” 

 

Born like it. The child was  _ born  _ like this. That...that actually made more questions than answers. Kid squinted at the child in barely concealed suspicion and sighed. 

 

“Bucko,” Kid started and Conan’s face spasmed at the word, “it’s Truth-Time. Lying will get your tongue cut out. So, stop telling stories and answer Big Brother, okay?” The world was starting to shake out the corner of his vision. Andrenline from the shooting must be going away. His words were twisted, slurring together. 

 

Conan stared at him. “You should go home. Maybe lay down. Is this your first time being shot at?” He sounded sympathetic and Kid wanted nothing more than to reach over and flick him again. 

 

“No,” Kid gritted out as he exhaled, “but it’s the first time I’ve had a child with me.” Conan hummed, this time in understanding, and slowly tilted his head to the side. 

 

“You should go.” 

 

“You should tell the truth.”

 

The two stared, at a stand-still. Conan’s eyes scrunched up. 

 

“Why do you even want to know?” The question was whispered, the tiny child’s shoulders hunched up. “What does it matter?” 

 

_ I think you may be connected to a jewel that brings immortality _ , Kid did not say. Instead he stood, his limbs trembling slightly. 

 

“I like solving puzzles,” Kid gave out instead, stepping over to the window. “That’s all.”

 

“I’m a puzzle to you?” The child had stood up as well, leaning against the desk leg as he blinked curiously at the thief. “What, no more medical-student bullshit?”

 

“ _ LANGUAGE! _ ” Kid shrieked, his voice echoing throughout the silent room. He winced, hearing a thump from outside the hall. Footsteps were closing in on them and he mentally swore. “This isn’t over, you heathen.” 

 

A smoke bomb and a grappling hook later found Kid in the passenger seat beside Jii, nursing a bruised tailbone courtesy of a stray soccer ball. “Freakin’ gremlin.” 

 

* * *

 

 

_ [-blinding light from the fluorescent bulb hanging overhead- _

_ -her arms and legs strapped to bitingly cold metal- _

_ -beeping that echoed and surrounded her, speeding and slowing with her own heartbeat- _

_ -gentle hands pressing a needle into her arm- _

_ -a soft “Sorry Ai-kun”- _

_ -her veins  _ **burning** _ against the glowing liquid as it entered her bloodstream- _

_ -screaming-] _

 

Haibara lurched up from her bed, gasping for breath. She clenched at her chest, scrambling to check her wrists and ankles. No marks, no bruising, nothing. 

 

It was a dream. A horrible, surreal nightmare. 

 

“Ai-kun?” Agasa leaned into her bedroom, seeing the small girl curled up. “Are you okay?” Haibara looked up, sweat trickling down her temple. She drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her blanket around her shaking shoulders. 

 

“I-I had a nightmare.” She was proud enough to admit a weakness like this. Especially with how her throat was throbbing and her limbs felt limp. She was okay to tell him, not wanting to worry the professor. 

 

“Do you have a fever?” Agasa asked as he shuffled further into the room. He sat down beside her, reaching a hand out. Feeling her forehead, he hummed. “You feel normal.” 

 

“I-” 

 

Haibara froze. Besides the residual unease from her nightmare, she felt fine. She felt  _ fine _ . She hadn’t felt fine since before she took that stupid poison. Her body didn’t ache, her vision wasn’t wavering, and it didn’t feel as if weighs were crushing down on her when she breathed.  

 

She looked down at her hands, seeing them slowly stop trembling. They were steady, the color returning to her fingers. It was a peachy hue, not the sickly pale she’d grown accustomed to seeing in the mirror. 

 

“Ai-kun?”

 

Haibara looked up at the man, tears of disbelief forming. “I feel fine.” Her voice cracked. “I feel  _ alive _ .” 

 

She hunched over, sobs tearing through her body as Agasa shot up, scrambling for tissues and to go make tea. 

 

She was alive. 

 

* * *

 

“Both Conan-kun and Ai-chan are staying home?” Ayumi whined as she put her backpack down on her desk. “What happened?”

 

“No idea,” Genta responded, trying to be sneaky as he quickly shoved a candy-bar into his mouth. “Must be sick.” 

 

The girl huffed and frowned, upset her two best friends weren’t there with them. 

 

* * *

 

 

“For the last time.” Kaito looked ready to toss his desk. “I did not kidnap any little kid.” Hakuba looked at him as if the magician was stupid. 

 

“Kid kidnapped a child-”

 

“Not Kid!”

 

“-and then put the child in danger when a sniper showed up to the heist. So? Is the child safe? Back to his guardians?” 

 

Kaito huffed, loosening his grip on the edges of his desk. 

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kaito began slowly, “but if you mean that kid with the glasses we saw for ice cream, then I saw him going home with that one chick after the heist.” Hakuba looked satisfied with his answer.

 

“You were there?” 

 

“Duh.” Kaito scoffed. “I am a fan, after all.” 

 

“Or him.” 

 

“I swear to God, Hakuba!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise next chapter will be longer, I swear


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is pacing? Who knows. I don't.
> 
> Took some liberties with information. Also, couldn't exactly remember the timeline for certain events so sorry~!

He tore through his papers, books and pens strewn across the flooring of his secret lair. Beside him, Jii tried to pick up the mess, only to sigh when more papers fell. 

 

“It went back in, Jii-chan!” Kaito snapped, eyes wide and bloodshot. “His blood actually went back into his leg and the wound closed up!”

 

“Are you sure your mind wasn’t just playing tricks on you?” Jii asked as he picked up a flipped book and brushed dirt off the spine. “Adrenaline can do that, you know.”

 

“I know what I saw!” Kaito tugged on his hair. “His eyes glow red and his body did the impossible. He-”

 

“Sounds like the Pandora Gem.” 

 

Silence fell between the two before Kaito gave a cry and slumped against his desk. 

 

“I thought it was a actual jewel,” he whined. Jii stacked a few papers together, smoothing out the wrinkles created. 

 

“Cherished people can be considered gems. Legends change with times. Never take everything face value.” Kaito looked at him before closing his eyes. 

 

“I don’t believe this.” His voice was thick, shoulders tensing. Jii looked down sadly as a pictured frame of Toichi. 

 

“I don’t want to either,” he whispered. He checked his wrist-watch and frowned. “You have to get ready for school in ten minutes.” Kaito groaned loudly.

 

* * *

 

 

“What’s this?” Kaito blinked sleepily at the folder Akako had dropped onto his desk. The witch unceremoniously plopped down onto the chair in front of his desk, studying the dark circles under his eyes.

 

“It’s a little gift. Consider it a early Yuletide present.” Akako smiled, batting her eyelashes prettily. Kaito ignored her eccentricities and peeked cautiously into the folder, expecting an explosion. 

 

“I’m not you. I wouldn’t have the time or care to rig confetti or a smoke screen,” Akako drawled with a roll of her eyes, flashing a smile to Hakuba from across the room. Hakuba, helping Aoko with another math assignment, nodded to her. 

 

Kaito opened the folder wider, his smile freezing on his face. 

 

“This is…” He stared at the laminated old newspaper clippings compiled up with paperclips, looking at the worn dates. “Newspapers?” 

 

“Look at the headline,” Akako hinted as she checked her painted nails. Kaito did, eyebrows raising up. 

 

“‘ _ Child Born With Glowing Eyes - a new mutation in the genes’ _ ?” Kaito glanced at Akako for a moment. “I couldn’t find any documented cases of someone being born with eyes like this. Not even my little mystery.” 

 

Akako’s smile was smug and catlike as she stretched out, her hair tumbling over her shoulder in waves. “Good thing I know exactly who to ask for things that were covered up. This is the  _ only _ ever documented case of something like this happening.” 

 

“Covered up?” Kaito looked back at the papers. “Why was it covered up?” 

 

“Look at who the mother was,” Akako spoke, moving to lean against his desk. Her nails dragged along the laminated sheets, tapping against a sentence. 

 

“Kudo Yukiko?” Kaito blinked, eyebrows furrowing. “She looks familiar…” He stared intently at her picture. “Wait, wasn’t she that famous actress? Fujimine Yukiko?” 

 

“Yep,” Akako purred out, pleased. Kaito’s eyebrows furrowed. 

 

“Why was it covered up? A scandal?” 

 

“No, the father was her husband, Kudo Yusaku,” Akako hummed, her own eyebrows furrowing. “I couldn’t find out why the birth was covered up, but this was the only article published about her child’s strange birth.”

 

“It says her son, Kudo Shinichi was born with the eyes.” He tilted his head to the side. “He’s that famous high school detective, isn’t he?” Wait, hadn’t he heard Akako say that name before? He looked up, seeing her staring intently at him. “What?” 

 

“Do you remember what I’d said about Kudo Shinichi-kun?” Akako’s expression was serious, her dark eyes burning with a hidden fire of insistence. Kaito couldn’t recall her words, and his expression must have spoken for him because she scowled. 

 

“Kudo Shinichi?” Hakuba questioned, leaning against the desk to Kaito’s right. He scrambled, hiding the papers. “He’s been out of the media for the last few months. Some say he’s dead. Why?”

 

“He’s not dead,” Akako snapped out, nails clicking against Kaito’s desk. “If he was dead, Death wouldn’t be begging at his heels.” 

 

It came back at once. 

 

_ “Kudo Shinichi,” Akako spoke up, drawing Kaito from his musing. “Mouri Ran-san was talking about him, during our outing. The spirits whispered about him too, back many years ago.”  _

 

_ “Yeah?” Kaito asked, raising an eyebrow. The name sounded familiar.  _

 

_ “Yes,” Akako hummed and then locked eyes with Kaito. “The moment he was born, Death was anxious.” _

 

“Would you know where to find him?” Kaito asked, ignoring Hakuba who’d begun to talk about the detective’s past works. The British teen sent him a annoyed look. 

 

“Go here after school,” Akako spoke, sliding a folded up piece of paper towards the magician. “You’ll be able to meet with someone who’ll lead you to him.” Hakuba looked between the two, eyes narrowing. 

 

“What are you two scheming?” The detective questioned, crossing his arms. 

 

“None of your business, Hakuba! Go be a snob somewhere else.” Kaito waved a hand dismissively as he sneaked a peek at the address. It was a park. Open, public, hard for anyone to try murdering him in broad daylight. He nodded his thanks and let the note burst into flames, vanishing the evidence from Hakuba’s prying eyes. “Thanks.” The classroom witch just nodded and left for Aoko. 

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m getting a restraining order,” Kaito grumbled as Hakuba shouldered his bookbag up higher. 

 

“This is free space for me to do as I wish,” Hakuba challenged and blinked when they came to a stop in a park. “Why are we at a park?” 

 

“Why don’t you ever mind your own business? Does selective genius mean you have to ignore social mannerisms?” 

 

“Selective-!?” Hakuba puffed out like a bird ruffling their feathers. “Kuroba!” Kaito stuck his tongue out, dancing around the frustrated teen. He plopped down on a bench, stretching out. He wondered if he had to look for anyone shady. Maybe a police officer? Who’d know a missing high-school detective? 

 

“Shinichi-nii-chan said that you’ve got to keep your balance. Doing that will help you balance the ball!” 

 

Oh my god, why? Kaito slumped back against the bench, emitting a long, drawn out groan that had many parents ushering their children away at. Hakuba, who’d taken a seat next to him, raised an eyebrow, used to his antics. 

 

“Look! It’s Magician-nii-chan and Hakuba-san!” The tiny child, Ayumi, pointed out, attention caught by Kaito’s loudness. “Hi!” Behind her, Haibara let a amused smirk grace her face. Kaito inwardly squinted. Huh, she looked healthier. More color to her cheeks. 

 

His tiny mystery was balancing a soccer ball on his head, attention on Genta and Mitsuhiko. The ball dropped and rolled towards Kaito, who barely concealed a wince at the sight of the demonic weapon of pain and suffering. 

 

God, next to  _ them  _ (you know what they are he doesn’t have to even hint at those abominations), soccer balls were going to be his second fear. 

 

“Hakuba-san...um...Kuroba-san, was it?” Conan went to grab his soccer ball, smiling politely at the two. It was all lies, Kaito knowing first hand what a foul-mouthed hell spawn the child was. After all, any child who willingly ran into the range of a active shooter could not be considered an innocent little angel. 

 

“Hi there Edogawa-kun,” Hakuba spoke, tapping the ball closer to the child. “What are you all doing today?” 

 

“Shinichi-nii-chan showed Conan-kun a new soccer trick so he’s teaching us!” Ayumi chattered, smiling sweetly at the two teenagers. 

 

“...Shinichi?” Kaito and Hakuba blinked. “As in Kudo Shinichi?” Kaito was going to break into Akako’s Hell House and physically fight her outside behind a convenience store. This was too weird, even for Kaito’s standards. 

 

“You know Shinichi-nii-chan?” Genta asked, stars in his eyes. “He’s Conan’s cousin.” The two teens looked to the child, who sheeply smiled. 

 

“You’re related to Kudo-kun?” Hakuba asked, eyeing him up and down. “Huh. I see the family resemblance.” Haibara snickered into her hand while Conan seemed to pale, flattening out his hair and adjusting his glasses. 

 

“No wonder you guys have such a... _ passion  _ for detective work,” Kaito chirped out, smile strained. “So, what did Kudo-san teach you?” 

 

“How to balance a ball on your head,” Genta exclaimed with a beaming smile. “Show ‘em Conan!” The child in question preened like a peacock, wasting no time in showing off. Hakuba and Kaito watched, genuinely impressed, as the child bounced the ball between his feet, kicking it up into the air before catching it with the flat of his head. He then let it roll backwards, where he almost made it look like a hacky-sack with how easily he passed it around his body. 

 

“That’s amazing,” Hakuba spoke with a clap of his hands, tone light. “I’m not too shabby myself.”

 

“Who says  _ shabby _ ?” Kaito questioned with a pinched face. Hakuba ignored the teen, pushing himself up off the bench. 

 

“Let me see the ball?” Conan passed it over, a wide smile stretching across his lips as Hakuba began to bounce it from one knee to the other, juggling it. The children ‘oh’ed and ‘aw’ed at him. Kaito turned his attention away as Conan hopped up onto the bench, stealing Hakuba’s seat. 

 

Kaito stared at the child, unable to hide his curiosity. From what Akako said, Shinichi was the only ever documented case of a child being born with glowing red eyes. He’d dig into medical records later, now that he had a hospital name and date, but Shinichi couldn’t be the only one. Conan was also born with it. True, he doubted it was a genetic mutation. After all, what kind of mutation made one’s own blood recede back into their body and heal? 

 

Distantly, Kaito recalled the gem he was looking for. 

 

“So, Kudo is your cousin, huh?” Kaito leaned back, smiling good-naturedly. “I bet the family reunions are a ball.” 

 

“Someone usually dies,” Conan spoke blandly and Kaito choked on his spit. “It’s a family tradition.”

 

“For a relative to  _ die _ ?!” That was horrible! Conan just shrugged. He squinted at Kaito. 

 

“What’s the sudden interest in Shinichi-nii-chan?” His tone was light, his eyes ice cold as he pierced Kaito with them. Kaito studied the child for a moment before reaching over, booping him on the nose. He reeled back, eyes wide. 

 

“My good friend mentioned how Mouri-san was dating him.” Kaito smiled, fake as can be. “I’m curious about my competition.” 

 

Conan sputtered, cheeks reddening. 

 

“C-competition?! No! You can’t! They’re dating!” Conan flailed his arms. “Ran would never break up with him! She loves him too much!” 

 

“As if a brat like you would know what love is,” Kaito laughed. “So where is he, anyways? Mouri-san mentioned him out of the country?” 

 

Conan winced, looking down at his tiny hands. “He’s doing a case overseas.” Kaito raised an eyebrow. “So he’s been gone.” 

 

“For a good few months, from the sudden drop in media presence,” Kaito answered and hummed. “He must be coming to be doing overseas cases. Is he the next Sherlock Holmes?” 

 

Conan tensed, suddenly wary. 

 

“You’re...really interested in him.” 

 

“I’m serious about a lot of things. Love being one of them,” Kaito responded with a cheshire like smile. “So tell me, kid. Have they kissed yet?” 

 

Conan burst into a ball of steam and red, stuttering and blubbering incoherently. Kaito cackled, hopping up off the bench. 

 

“Let’s go Grandpa, it’s time to take your medicine!” Kaito called to Hakuba, who was showing the children how to do footstools. Hakuba missed the ball and scowled at the magician.

 

“Shabby is a perfectly normal word to use, Kuroba!” Hakuba seethed as he stomped over, the children laughing after him. 

 

“Sure thing, old man. Let’s get your posh butt back home before supper time at four o’clock.” Kaito bowed to the children, casting one last glance at Conan and Haibara. Haibara had moved to stand next to his mystery, their heads tilted towards each other as they whispered. 

 

“Bye bye~!” Kaito waved and led Hakuba away, mind whirling. Looks like he was going to have a late night tonight.

 

* * *

 

 

Kaito hummed to himself as he slunk across the hallway. He peeked around a corner, seeing nothing but shadows from the dim lighting of the moonlight streaming in from the windows. Doing a dramatic roll, he ended up in front of a door. Still humming, he opened the door. 

 

It creaked loudly, echoing through the deserted mansion. Sucking in a breath, he crawled on his arms and knees towards the desk pushed back by a bookshelf.

 

It looked like a study, the walls lined with bookshelves and a few leather arm chairs. Fancy. 

 

Something glistened in the reflected moonlight and he crouched down under the desk, seeing two small lenses just laying on the carpet. Picking one up, he inspected it. It looked like a lense from a pair of glasses. Actually…the size looked really familiar. 

 

Thinking back, Kudo Shinichi disappeared from seemingly the face of the Earth around the same time Edogawa Conan popped up into the Mouri Family’s lives. It’d be a odd coincidence if not for Kudo’s birthing records.

 

He’d dug into the medical records, showing that the hospital had documented the phenomenon. Strangely, the attending nurse and OB-GYN handling the labor had resigned within the week of Kudo’s birth. It also listed Kudo as a premature birth, Yukiko having to undergo a cesarean section. 

 

Even more strange, the file itself was hidden under a completely different file, not kept in the electronic files with the rest of the hospital’s patients. Unless one knew where to exactly look and who and what to look for, they’d never find the data. 

 

Thankfully Kaito had. 

 

“Are you humming that theme song to that movie  _ Mission Impossible _ ?” 

 

Kaito fumbled with the lense, wincing as it dropped to the carpet and shattered. He turned. Conan and Haibara were standing in the doorway, Haibara’s arm steady as she pointed a gun at Kaito. 

 

What. The. Fuck. 

 

“Is that a gun?!” Kaito shrieked out, adjusting the baseball cap over his hair. “Little miss, that better be a water gun!” 

 

WHERE WERE HER PARENTS!? WHERE WERE ANY ADULTS?!

 

“Breaking and entering into a abandoned house isn’t your usual M.O, Kid,” Conan spoke, crossing his arms. Leaning against the doorframe with his lenses reflected, he looked creepy and intimidating. An 8 year old was intimidating. What even. 

 

“Put the gun down,” Kid hissed as he stood up, moving around the desk. The gun followed his movements. “Children shouldn't be playing with things like that. It isn’t a toy!” His hands twitched, wishing to confiscate it from the little girl. 

 

“Don’t worry,” Haibara spoke as she clicked the safety off of it with practiced ease, “I have a perfect aim.” 

 

“Says the girl who’s pulled the trigger point-blank in my face,” Conan dryly teased. Kid’s mind blue-screened. 

 

“I.” He blinked. “I. I. I.” He couldn’t. He just couldn’t. 

 

“I think you broke him,” Haibara spoke, tone intrigued as she slowly put the safety back on and lowered the gun. “Look at him. I think I see steam coming out of his ears.”

 

“I made him cry the other week,” Conan admitted, as if it was something to be proud about. Kid covered his face with his hands and gave a choked exhale. 

 

“Kudo Shinichi disappeared and within a week of his sudden drop in media presence, Edogawa Conan started appearing in the news.” 

 

The two children tensed, Haibara fast in raising the gun up again. She moved a bit in front of Conan, eyes like steel. 

 

“Kudo Shinichi is the only ever documented case of being born with red eyes.” 

 

Haibara’s arm wavered, her eyebrows pinching as she casted a glance at Conan. He was pale. 

 

“Kudo Shinichi is the only one in the island of Japan that had a documented medical record of this... _ defect _ . There is no birth record of Edogawa Conan being born in Japan, even though his certificate and papers all point to him being born in a hospital in Haido.” Kid dropped his hands, eyes narrowed as he stalked forward. In a flash, his card gun was out. Haibara couldn’t even react before her gun was smacked out of her hand, a card embedding into the wood of the doorframe above Conan’s head. 

 

“Which is strange,” Kid continued as he stopped in front of the two children. Looming over them, he looked menacing with the light against his back. “Since a lot of his papers are wrong. It says his blood type is B negative but when he had a blood transfusion from Mouri-san-”

 

“What do you want!” Conan moved, getting in front of Haibara as if to shield her. “Who are you, really? Why are you so obsessed with me?!”

 

“Pandora.” 

 

Color drained from Conan’s face and he took a step back, eyes wide. 

 

“Heard of it?” Kid watched those eyes darken with understanding before flickering around for an escape route. “A gem with legends tying it to immortality. A jewel hidden inside a larger jewel that will glow red under the moonlight.” Kid propped his free hand against his hip, shifting his weight. “Hey tiny detective, how come both you and Kudo seem to share the same birth defect?”

 

His smile dropped as he glared at the children. “Who exactly are  _ you _ ?” 

 

* * *

 

 

_ [“Why can’t I sleep over at Ran’s house?” Shinichi pouted, crossing his arms across his chest with a huff. Yukiko gave him a soft smile, eyes sad.  _

 

_ “It’s a full moon, Shin-chan,” Yukiko spoke matter-of-factly, kneeling down to her child’s height. “You can’t go outside during the full moon.” Shinichi’s nose crinkled up and he shot away from his mother, scampering over to the window. Yukiko’s breath was stolen under the glow of those red eyes as he stepped under the moon’s light.  _

 

_ “Why is it such a big deal?” Shinichi whined before dropping his head, eyes disappearing back to that crystal blue. “It’s not that weird.”  _

 

_ “It’s not it’s considered weird,” Yukiko began lightly, hands lightly resting over her covered scar on her stomach. “It’s the fact that if the  _ wrong  _ people find out…”  _

 

_ Shinichi frowned and moved, crashing into her. He squeezed her tight, burrowing into her chest.  _

 

_ “I’m sorry Mama,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”  _

 

_ “It’s okay baby,” she whispered back, looking up. Her eyes locked with the beady eyes of a crow perched outside and she tightened her hold on her son. “I’m just trying to make sure you aren’t taken from me.”] _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh finally, things are happening!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A headache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic isn't dead lmao 
> 
> I'm just slow with writing for fandoms. I'm currently focusing on my bnha fic and my batman fic lolol
> 
> but this fic isn't dead. Just gonna be slow with updates. oof.

His head pounded. It felt like someone had taken an ice-pick to his temple, repeatedly stabbing into his skull. He groaned, lifting his arms to rub at his face.

 

Or he tried to. His wrists tug sharply on something cold and metal, biting into his skin. Eyebrows furrowing, he squinted his eyes open. The room was dimly lit, helping to nurse his splitting headache. His hands were handcuffed to a bedpost.

 

He stared.

 

Uuuuuh. What the hell?

 

“Oh, you’re up.”

 

Kaito jolted, jerking his wrists against the retrains again from reflex. Haibara leaned against the end bedpost, staring at him in boredom. “I was wondering when you’d wake up.”

 

“Wha-” His voice was hoarse and cracked and he winced, realising he wasn’t wearing his outfit. Oh god, where was his hat? “What-what-what?”

 

It made sense to ask the more important question. Even if he couldn’t very well articulate it properly at the moment.

 

Haibara raised an eyebrow and moved to stand by him, raising a hand. She ghosted her fingers along his left temple and he winced.

 

“You don’t remember?” Haibara snorted. “You tried to act intimidating towards us at Kudo’s mansion-” This was vaguely familiar, yes “-and Edogawa-kun surprised you by kicking at your shin.”

 

This was also vaguely familiar, yes. Kaito squinted at her, lips pulling into a pursed expression.

 

“Well, you ended up falling backwards and smacking your head on the desk,” Haibara explained and gestured towards Kaito’s head, “so we brought you to Agasa's house to fix you up. Then we tied you up.”

 

“Why?” His headache was slowly subsiding. He jiggled the handcuffs. His arms ached.

 

Haibara shrugged. “You were being creepy and prying into Edogawa-kun’s personal life. Why wouldn’t we, Kuroba Kaito-san?” Her eyes had gained a nasty glint and Kaito closed his eyes, counting to three.

 

“Okay.” He breathed out through his nose. “I feel like that’s fair. I - jesus kid, can I get untied? My arms are going numb.” Haibara wavered, eyeing him for a moment.

 

“Edogawa-kun, can you come unlock the cuffs?”

 

Kaito slumped back against the bed, staring at the ceiling as new tiny feet pattered into the room. What was his life anymore? How had _he_ ended up being the one kidnapped, held hostage, and his identity revealed?

 

Life was unfair and Lady Luck hated him. She absolutely hated him.

 

Clinking sounded and Kaito watched as Conan unlocked the cuffs. His arms fell heavily beside his head, tingling as his circulation corrected itself. Conan side-eyed him warily, frowning at him as he slowly sat up.

 

“...Hi.” Kaito pressed his lips together. “I’m Kaito.” The two children stared at him blankly. “What’s your names?”

 

“Seriously?” Conan asked, deadpan, and Kaito shrugged and pulled his legs in close to his chest. Hunched in bed, staring at the two children, he seemed far younger than the teenager parading around as a thief. “You’re just gonna- okay. This. This is fine.”

 

“Not really,” Kaito grumbled against his knees and winced, squeezing his eyes shut when his head gave a violent pound. “Um. So. I may have broken the law by breaking and entering-”

 

“ _Just_ breaking and entering?” Conan snorted. “You illegally gained access to _extremely_ private personal information, birth records, medical records, and probably social security numbers to learn the shit you know.” Conan frowned. “But yeah, breaking and entering is the only law you broke.”

 

“Ouch.” Kaito glared at Conan behind his bangs. “Somebody’s cranky and needs to go to bed. When’s your bedtime?” It came out as snippy and snarky but it was a genuine question. He was pretty sure it was late at night, judging by how dark the sky was outside the window by the bed.

 

Conan sputtered and gritted his teeth. Haibara looked between the two of them, expression far too amused to cut in.

 

“I’m looking for the gem called Pandora.”

 

Haibara and Conan stilled as Kaito closed his eyes again, resting his forehead against his knees.

 

“It’s a gem that’s said to bring immortality to whoever finds it. The legend-” his words stilted before he swallowed “-the legend says that Pandora is a jewel hidden inside a larger jewel that glows red under the moonlight. Full moons, apparently.” His eyes went to Conan’s wide blue.

 

“Why?” Haibara asked after a moment of silence. Kaito buried his face deeper against his knees.

 

“Because I- I just need to find it. My father-”

 

His words fell silent and he just curled tighter into a ball, giving a pathetic little whine. “It was supposed to be a stupid rock. Not a kid. Or whatever you are.”

 

Haibara frowned, looking between the two of them. “I’m lost. Edogawa-kun’s this Pandora? Why do you think that?”

 

“His eyes glow red under the full moon’s light,” Kaito listed off listlessly, eyes dead, “and his blood went back _into_ his body like magic.” Conan winced but kept silent, as he had since Kaito had began talking.

 

“You make it sound like that can’t happen.” Haibara’s expression morphed into a mixture of confusion and ludicracy, her lips spasming as her emotions battled against each other. “You do know there’s this thing called-”

 

“His blood sucked back into his body as if the action was put on rewind.”

 

“Oh.” Haibara’s eyebrows furrowed as she shot another look at Conan. “Were you hallucinating? Maybe you’re just-” Haibara’s expression shattered into a blank mask and she slowly raised a hand to her opposite arm.

 

“Haibara?” Conan questioned weakly and Haibara’s blank eyes met his.

 

“You were never affected by the drug,” she whispered out and Kaito’s eyebrows shot up in alarm.

 

_THEY TOOK DRUGS?! WHERE. WERE. THE. ADULT?!_

 

“Your body wasn’t breaking down from the effects of the Apoptoxin. Not like mine was. You seemed generally healthy and any blood sample test I ran came back negative for your cells killing themselves.” Haibara’s words got louder. “Which I always found weird because how weren’t your cells attacking themselves?!”

 

“H-Haibara-” Conan took a step back.

 

“NO! You body was supposed to function as if suffering from an autoimmune disease. Your body was supposed to be attacking itself but instead it was functioning as if you _were_ just an eight year old! There was no distinct traces of your nervous system suffering or your organs shutting down!” Haibara shoved at Conan, eyes suddenly wide in realization. “Your blood acts like it normally should without any traces of outside interference. There aren’t any foreign objects in your cells. Not like with mine.”

 

Kaito watched, silent and serious, taking in everything being said.

 

“Just what are you, Kudo-kun?”

 

Welp. Kaito’s lips pressed together. Did the tiny little mystery really just call his other tiny mystery Kudo? As in Shinichi Kudo? As in the missing guy with the only known case of glowing red eyes?

 

Sadly, Kaito couldn’t say he was surprised. Ever since he’d gotten his hands on those newspaper clippings and had dug into Conan’s false papers, he’d had an inkling of a theory.

 

This just proved it.

 

How amusing. Pandora’s Gem indeed. A tiny detective hidden in the shadow of his original, larger identity. Kaito closed his eyes, counted to three, and exhaled.

 

“Okay.” He clapped, confetti raining down on the two not-children. They jumped and turned to him. “So you’re Kudo Shinichi. That makes this easier.” Kaito’s eyes slid to Haibara. “And who are you, ma’am?”

 

A third pair of feet sounded as Agasa peeked in, carrying a tray of tea. Kaito met gazes with the old man and he smiled sheeply.

 

“This is a long story,” the man gruffed with a shy chuckle.

 

Kaito wasn’t laughing.

 

* * *

 

 

“...A drug shrunk you.” Kaito couldn’t wrap his head around it. Okay, maybe he _could,_ after thinking about it for a hot minute, because that seemed kinda more realistic than magic.

 

And he had his fair deal of actual legit magic, thank you very much.

 

“And this little lady, Miyano Shiho-san, made it?” He eyed Haibara strangely. She was hugging her mug of tea to her chest protectively, staring vacantly into the distant. “Okay. Sounds reasonable.”

 

“Really?” Conan’s eyebrow rose as he dryly sneered at the thief. “That sounds reasonable?”

 

“My friend is penpals with Satan, the _actual Devil_. This makes so much more sense.”

 

A beat of silence.

 

“What?” Haibara looked up at Kaito. He shrugged. He leaned back against the pillows, pinching at the bridge of his nose.

 

“So, you two are actually seventeen and eighteen years old respectively?” Conan and Haibara nodded. Kaito squinted accusingly at Conan. “If anyone in this room is a creepy pervert, it’s you now. I _k_ _now_ you take baths with Mouri-san.”

 

“Oh my god,” Conan groaned out, looking at him in horror. “Wait, what?”

 

“So, this drug, APTX 4869, as you called it, was originally designed as a poison? But a rare side effect de-ages the person instead?” Kaito rubbed at his temples. “How do you know if the de-aging effect will take place?”

 

“I currently don’t know the variables that cause the anomaly,” Haibara spoke sullenly. “While developing the drug, I had speculations as to what the actual purpose of the drug was created for. It’s been in the process for half a century.  Immortality is apparently not a...determined purpose, but one that’s genuinely welcomed amongst the Organization.”

 

“What’s the purpose of it for?”

 

“I’ve been told to raise the dead.” Haibara looked nervous. “But I’m not entirely sure anymore.” Kaito hummed and sipped at his tea. His mind was racing.

 

“So then Tantei-kun,” Kaito’s eyes landed on Conan who sipped sulkily at his own tea, “what’s with you?”

 

“Like I said,” Conan grumbled against the brim of his teacup, “I was born like this.”

 

“As Shinichi or Conan?” Kaito’s eyes narrowed as he smiled, biting and sharp. “There’s a distinction now, isn’t there?”

 

“Don’t act so familiar with me,” the child-not-child grumbled and looked away. “...Shinichi.” Agasa winced and Haibara’s glare burned into him. “No one besides my parents and Professor know about it.”

 

“And what’s this _it_ , huh Kudo-kun?” Haibara hissed out, tightening her grip on her cup. “Did you and the Professor do something to help me?” Her figure seemed to shrink into itself. “Ever since I had that nightmare...I’ve been...better.” Her bottom lip trembled.

 

“I gave you a transfusion of some of his blood,” Agasa spoke softly, looking at her with sadness weighing down his already worn face. “We figured that it’d regulate your cells. Shinichi’s blood is...special.”

 

“Special,” Haibara and Kaito both spoke at the same time, deadpan. They looked at the person in question. Conan carefully avoided eye contact, loudly slurping on his tea.

 

“Oh my god.” Kaito buried his face into his hands. “Even as fucking _teenagers_ you have no self preservation.

 

“Language,” Haibara mocked without thought. Kaito gave her a wide-eyed gawk.

 

Despite himself, Conan laughed loudly into his teacup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know anymore man


End file.
